Fall Consequences
by tivaforever13
Summary: This is a sequel to The Summer After Disaster. It picks up where that story left off. This is about what happens in the fall of 2013. It is AU from season 11 of NCIS. We will find out what all of the characters are up to during the fall and how the summer actions cost them legally and emotionally throughout the story.
1. Chapter 1

A/N – This story is a sequel to The Summer After Disaster. This picks up three weeks after the end of the story and uses the same story line as the other one. It is about what faces them in the fall from the previous year and from the summer of a mission. There will be some consequences for their actions and I can't wait to think them up and share them with you. I already have some ideas playing out in my head.

I had a huge response to The Summer After Disaster, and I wish to thank those followers and reviewers, since they were huge supporters of that story. I had a wonderful time writing it and am glad to know that someone enjoyed reading it. I hope you all like this one as well.

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Director Vance's office was rather crowded now. Jen Gibbs had just walked in with her father, who she was staying with for now, while Isaac was away on a mission. She had just turned down her promotion. Jen and Gibbs sat down. They were the earliest of many to walk into the empty office and wait for Vance to arrive, who they knew would be last on purpose.

They sat in silence and waited for a few minutes. Tony and Ziva were next. Jen noticed that they dropped each other's hands immediately after they got into the office. Their wedding had taken place just two weeks ago in Gibbs' backyard. They were now both DiNozzos.

"How was the honeymoon?" Jen asked them.

"Pleasant," Ziva said, giving nothing away to her boss, who just looked sideways at her, knowing that they had probably spent the entire thing in the bedroom. "Did you find out the gender of the baby?"

"One boy, one girl," she said with a smile on her face. "Guess that's what I get for waiting so long to see a real doctor." She shrugged. "Elijah Ari David and Shannon Kelly David."

Everyone in the room smiled. The twins incorporated both sides of their family and a grandparent and aunt or uncle that they would never know. It made them all happy. Gibbs kissed Jen on the head.

The door opened again and Abby and McGee walked in nervously and sat down in the silence of the room. They glanced at Tony and Ziva and then they glanced at Jen. They didn't say anything. Then Ducky walked in, closely followed by Kort. Jenny was last.

When everyone was situation the silence was profound and it almost hurt to hear how silent it was. Finally the door opened and Director Vance walked in with the Commandant of the Marine Corps and SECNAV.

"Good morning everyone," Vance said right away. "Let's get started."

He sat down and the Commandant stood up. "I wanted to thank each of you personally for helping Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs. You did an excellent job in Haifa three weeks ago. Next, Jennifer, I wanted to offer you a promotion to Master Sergeant if you are willing?"

"I'm going to decline, sir," Jen said gracefully, without any hesitation.

"That's what you said last time," he said. "I understand that you will need some time to heal. Perhaps you will reconsider?"

"No, sir," Jen said certainly. "I will not reconsider this time. First, I am unhappy with all of the undercover and secret missions. I am unhappy with being away from home all the time. I want to go home and be with my family. And I now have another two people to take into consideration. I am pregnant with twins, sir. I respectfully decline your offer."

"You could always be a training officer?" he asked.

"No, I think I am done with the marines for good this time," Jen said shaking her head. "I think I want to find a job that doesn't involve going over seas or dealing with more marines to send over seas. I have served this country for six years and I think it is high time to retire from that duty."

"You were on track to becoming the next Commandant," he said.

"And that is not what I want," Jen said. "I want to be away from the politics of it. I have been too wrapped up in politics for a long time. I want to work in a more stable environment than I was in before."

"All right, well then, my job here is done. I will get to work on your Honorable Discharge as soon as I get back to the office," he said with a smile on his face and extended his hand. "And congratulations on the twins."

"Thank you, sir," Jen said and shook his hand.

He left the room.

"Okay, now it is my turn," Vance said standing up. "I want to thank each and every one of you for the wonderful job you did on the mission. I know that there will be repercussions of this event and we will deal with them as they come. First, Ducky, will you take back your place as our chief medical examiner at NCIS? Young Mr. Palmer is struggling and not fully certified for the job."

"Gladly, Director," Ducky said. "My involvement was slim, but will there be any paperwork that I need to fill out?"

"Of course there will," he said with a smile. "Here it is, take it and go. Miss Sciuto, I assume you would still like to go and talk to your machines everyday?"

"Hell yes!" she said. "Hand me the paperwork and let's get rolling!"

"All right. There is also paperwork in there that will allow you to file for a gun license since I see that you are carrying and I know that you were involved in the field work of it. You will be able to go into the field with the team when you wish if you can complete this."

"Thank you," she said and got up and left.

"Gibbs, you back?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Gibbs said.

"Get your paperwork done. Dot your I's and cross your T's. Got it?"

Gibbs nodded and kissed his daughter on the forehead before leaving the room. Vance turned on the remaining agents.

"Now is where we run into a few snags. Kort you are CIA and your cooperation has been wonderful in this. The FBI needs an NCIS and CIA report from you. So your set of paperwork is here. That is the easy part. You can go use the conference room to fill it out."

"Thank you," Kort said and gracefully left the room.

Vance turned further looking at the others. He placed three badges on the desk then dug through his drawer to pull out a brand new one and a very old one. He held them up and then placed them on the desk.

"They are up for grabs but I will understand if you don't want them," he said.

McGee was the first to move to grab his. He took it and smiled. Vance handed him a file with the paperwork that needed signing and he left the room. The others sat there staring at the badges.

"Jenny?" he asked her first because that was the easy conversation.

She looked up at him.

"You were never official relieved of your duties, but you may choose to not take back your badge. Either way, we both have a lot of paperwork to fill out. What will it be?"

"I'll take it," Jenny said and smiled at him.

"Your desk is across from Gibbs."

"Thank you, Director," she said and smiled and walked out of the room. "You three are something else. Tony, Ziva, you two are married now, which causes a lot of paperwork for me. But, I can get it done. You are also under investigation still, which also causes a lot of paperwork for me, but we can get it done. I want you both back, but I will understand if only one of you wants to come back or if neither of you wants to come back. There are some that don't want Ziva back and some that don't want Tony back. It is entirely up to you. If you need some time, take it, just fill out the paperwork."

"I'll take some time to think," Tony said.

"Me also," Ziva added in.

"Here is your paperwork, Mr. and Mrs. DiNozzo," Vance said. "Jen, I am offering you a job, officially. It is yours for the taking. You can go straight onto the MCRT working for your father, or you can choose another location. That is entirely up to you. What do you think?"

"I think I will take it, Director Vance," Jen said with a smile on her face. "New job, new challenges. I'm up for anything."

"You've also already proven yourself to your father. I'm sure he will enjoy working with you, since you know his rules and when to shut up around him," Vance said with a smile. "I have heard you are a capable investigator."

"Thank you, sir," she said.

"You are across from McGee," he said.

He pulled out three more stacks of files. He handed one to each of them and then dismissed them from the office. Tony and Ziva went to the conference room, giving one last look toward the orange walls of NCIS.

They sat down and noticed that Kort was already gone from the office. They wondered how he had finished all the paperwork that fast and how he had managed to escape without them noticing. But, they didn't question it.

They sat down and began to write in silence.

"Zi," Tony said quietly. "I'm not sure I want to come back. This past year has been… difficult. I don't want to go through too many more like that. I mean, an explosion, a couple deaths, a bout of revenge, a travelling trip… now this long mission. That is quite a lot to deal with."

"I know, Tony," Ziva said. "I'm not sure what I want to do. I'm not sure I want to be involved in this anymore. There is too much death. I have been surrounded by death my whole life. Jen's pregnancy is the first time that I have felt the sign that everyone is still living and breathing in a long time. I used to think this job was easy in comparison to Mossad, and it still is. But, it is still very challenging in its own ways."

Tony smiled at her. "We have all the time you want to take, sweet cheeks," he said with a smirk on his face. "All the time in the world if you want it. We did get paid a big sum of money for this mission. Paid from the Marines. Paid from CIA. Paid from the FBI. Paid from NCIS. We did good."

"We did make out well, but so did everyone else, Tony," Ziva said. "Gibbs will not be happy with us for taking time to consider."

"He would be less happy if we showed up for work and weren't sure of ourselves and what we wanted. Besides, Ziva, this isn't Mossad. He isn't going to manipulate you into coming back. He will just be disappointed at losing a team member, but he won't say that. We'll make it through. Let's enjoy some time together and then we can figure it out as we go."

"That sounds fantastic," Ziva said with a smile on her face. "You are truly amazing, Tony."

* * *

A/N – Thank you for reading. I needed to start somewhere and getting their jobs back (or not) was a great place to do it. I had the two names in mind for Jen's kid and I couldn't pick, so she is having twins, because it makes me not have to pick. Please, let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N – Someone suggested that I should have written Tony and Ziva's wedding. I like that suggestion. I was going to go back and do it in the other story, The Summer After Disaster, but I changed my mind. I'm doing it as a memory in this chapter. That way we get to see it, but I don't have too many stories still going at once. This chapter has very little forward progress, but a couple of good memories. This is a T chapter, definitely.

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

As she sat in the car, Ziva looked down at her wedding ring. She could remember that day perfectly. She thought back to it.

* * *

**_Ziva stood in a large room with Abby at one side and Jen at the other. They were helping her get into her white dress. It was a strapless piece that was floor length. It hugged her every curve and flowed in just the right way. It was simple and elegant. Ziva honestly felt like a princess in it._**

**_Jen stood up from helping her with the dress and ruffled her loose curls, so that they fell a little over her shoulders. She then smiled from behind Ziva in the mirror as she placed the veil in her hair. Ziva smiled back._**

**_"I'm going to go out and make sure the boys are getting everyone seated, Ziva," Abby said. "I'll be right back."_**

**_Abby left the room in a hurry. She had been able to tell that Jen wanted a few words with Ziva._**

**_"I know the wedding isn't a sham, Zi," Jen said. "My father has an idea that it isn't either. The only people who think it's a sham are Director Vance and JAG A.J. Chegwidden. But, the others just think this is some out of the blue awakening for the two of you. I'm having a hard time getting Tobias Fornell to accept it as a real wedding, yet he is here in the audience and he plans on staying to see that you two actually go off on the honeymoon."_**

**_Ziva smiled. "Thank you for everything, Jen," Ziva said. "I'm glad you are here to be my maid of honor."_**

**_Jen smiled again. "Thank you for making me that, Zi," Jen said with a smile._**

**_The door opened and Abby and Gibbs walked in together. Gibbs blushed a little at the sight of Ziva all done up like she was. He was smiling though._**

**_"You look beautiful, Ziva," he said. "Just like giving away one of my girls."_**

**_There was a tear in his eye and there was also one in Ziva's eye. Jen hurried over with a handkerchief and dabbed at it._**

**_"No crying until after the ceremony, or during it. I don't want your makeup to run before Tony sees you all fancied up," Jen said sharply and followed Abby out of the room._**

**_They met up with the boys in the hallway, where the others couldn't see them. It was almost time. Jen was a little fidgety and McGee looked like a stone, as though he was in shock over this whole thing. How this wedding had come together so fast, no one was really sure. But, Jen and Abby had worked very hard to make it happen in just a few days._**

**_The music started and Abby moved off with Isaac. Jen watched as Abby's blue bridesmaid dress swished behind her as she walked off arm in arm with Isaac. Isaac didn't dare to glance back and see his pregnant fiancée standing there._**

**_They were halfway to where they were going and McGee and Jen moved off. Ziva watched them as they went. She counted their steps for something to do._**

**_"Relax, Ziva," Gibbs said. "I know this is about more than the law, even if it is a little sooner that you had in mind. Just follow your heart and you two will succeed. After all, you've waited long enough and known each other long enough."_**

**_Ziva nodded, but looked at Gibbs. Her mouth was hanging open._**

**_"I approve," he whispered. "Rule twelve is stupid for you two anyway."_**

**_Ziva smiled at him as she began to walk with him, slowly down their makeshift aisle in his backyard in Alexandria. She didn't look at the audience and at first she only looked down at the ground. Her eyes slowly rose to find Tony at the end of their aisle and suddenly it all made sense to her._**

**_She was marrying the man she loved more than anything in the world. She had loved him for a whole lot longer than she cared to admit. But, she would admit it to him if he ever asked her. She had always loved Tony. It was love at first sight. She had always trusted Tony; that had happened at first sight too. She wanted to run to get there, but she focused hard on keeping pace with Gibbs, so that she didn't look too eager to the two in the audience who thought this was all a sham._**

**_They finally made it to the alter._**

**_"Who gives away this woman today?"_**

**_"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, her father," Gibbs said, with a tear twinkling in his eyes. He turned to Ziva and smiled at her. "I love you, kid. You'll do great."_**

**_He kissed her on the cheek and placed her hand in Tony's, an old symbol of giving away the bride._**

**_The words that continued were completely lost on Ziva as she stared into Tony's eyes. They were saying traditional vows, because there had not been much time to write their own._**

**_"Do you, Ziva David, take this man, Anthony DiNozzo, to be your husband? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better of for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?" the preacher asked._**

**_"I do," she said in barely more than a whisper, unable to figure out where her voice went._**

**_"And, do you, Anthony DiNozzo, take this woman, Ziva David, to be your wife? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better of for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?" the preacher asked him._**

**_"I do," Tony said, looking straight into Ziva's eyes and bearing his soul into her through his eyes._**

**_"I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss," he said and closed his little book._**

**_Tony grabbed Ziva by the waist and pulled her close to him. He pressed a kiss to her lips and dipped her backward a little bit, making this kiss far more dramatic than Ziva normally would have been comfortable with in public. Though, Ziva, somehow, had forgotten that she was in public at all. She laced her fingers through his hair and held him there, where he belonged and kissed him passionately, until he forced them apart._**

**_"We are in public, Mrs. DiNozzo," he whispered to her, kissing her on the cheek._**

**_He could tell her cheeks had gone a little blushed, but not many others new her that well, where they could see the difference in her tanned skin. Tony quickly brushed a tear from her eye and smiled at her, kissing her one more time, before turning to face the watching crowd, so that they could begin the reception. Ziva returned his smile and also turned to face the watchers._**

* * *

Ziva was smiling in her seat at the memory of nearly losing herself in front of all of their friends, family, coworkers, and fellow Federal Agents that day. Tony glanced at her as they pulled into the driveway of their apartment, since they now both lived at Tony's place.

"What are you smiling about?" Tony asked.

"Our wedding," Ziva said quietly. "I changed my mind, Tony. It was definitely not too soon to do that."

He smiled at her and leaned over and kissed her. "We can always think about what we're going to do about NCIS after we celebrate a little more. Personally, I think that honeymoon was a little too short for my liking."

Ziva giggled at Tony and wiggled her eyebrows in a way that he had always done to her when he was being suggestive and inappropriate. His eyes widened as he saw this and he turned off the car.

Tony opened his door, got out, and walked around to open her door for her. She took his hand as she stepped out of the car. He held her close, as though afraid she might disappear from him any second and they walked up to their apartment.

It was still completely amazing to Ziva that they were now married and living together when only a few weeks ago they weren't sure of where there lives were going. This was all different and it was a change that many people considered too big with too many big steps involved all at once. But, Ziva and Tony had adjusted to the change rather fast. They enjoyed being around each other too much to not enjoy all this change.

Tony unlocked their apartment and allowed Ziva to enter it first. He kissed her as soon as they were in. He pushed her back up against the wall and Ziva was reminded of something else in that moment as she kissed Tony and laced her fingers through his soft hair.

* * *

**_Finally, they were in Paris, the place where they were on their honeymoon. They were at the same fancy hotel where they had stayed so many years ago to pick up that witness for NCIS. Tony had picked it and surprised Ziva with it. He carried her over the threshold of the suite and set her down on her feet as soon as the door was closed behind them. They could both feel a need for each other that had never been quite that strong or quite the same._**

**_Tony grabbed her waist and pushed her back right into the door and kissed her deeply and passionately. His tongue was at her bottom lip, but she opened her mouth before he could ask for permission. Their tongues engaged in a wild dance for dominance, neither winning or loosing. Ziva's fingers laced through his hair and held his face to hers with such strength that neither was sure how it was still possible to breathe._**

**_Tony's hands were on Ziva's back and tugging at the dress she wore on the plane to come up. Ziva moved her butt off the wall so that the dress would cooperate with Tony. As she moved forward, her hips crashed into his, increasing their need for one another. He grabbed her butt and squeezed it lightly and then allowed his hands to wander all over her body and explore, again, every single contour and curve that she had. When he got to the scars on her back, he stroked them lightly and kissed her neck passionately, making sure she knew just how loved she was, despite everything that she had ever been through in her life._**

* * *

They were in that same position again, in a different location with different clothing on, and under nearly identical circumstances as they thought about the fact that they were now Mr. and Mrs. DiNozzo.

Ziva wrapped her leg around Tony's waist and pushed her hips harder into him, begging him for what she really wanted. He complied.

* * *

Abby was standing in Gibbs' living room with Jen looking at her as though she was nuts. She had stormed in and stopped as soon as she had seen Jen there. She was, of course, looking for the older Gibbs and not the younger and pregnant Gibbs.

Gibbs came out of the kitchen to see the girls staring at one another and he sighed heavily. "Abby?" he said.

"Why, Gibbs? Why didn't they just come back? I thought it was assumed that this mission meant that we were all coming back? What more is there to think about? I mean, I know they are married and living together and everything now…. And I know that they are still under heavy investigation from Parsons, but why didn't they just come back when Vance said he wanted them? I don't understand, Gibbs! I'm so angry at them! I just want to go over there and head-slap them! Why didn't you head-slap them, or you, Jen! I want them back on the team! I want all of them back, it won't be the same without them!"

"Abby," Jen said sharply. "They will make a decision in their own time. They are dealing with quite a lot right now."

"So what? They need jobs don't they? I mean they really can't have enough savings to do this for very long and not work, right? Even McGee came back to work right away, and he's a famous author, under a different name, but still! So what? They are married and living together and adjusting. Is that all the excuses you are going to give to me?"

"Abby," Gibbs said. "Tony and Ziva have had quite a year. First, the explosion in the elevator, which changed them in ways that none of us expected. They never really got used to that change and then Eli David was killed, along with Jackie Vance. That was difficult on Ziva and Tony was there for her in ways that she had not expected. She got her revenge and thought she killed Bodnar, only to find out that she hadn't actually killed Bodnar, while she brought in Yaniv instead of Ilan. They were in a major car accident, where Tony lost his car and Ziva was giving him rides to work almost everyday.

"Then, we were all put under pressure from Parsons, who managed to lift every single dirty thing we've ever done somehow from every record that was destroyed. We still need to work on how he found out all of that information, which is your job, not anyone else's. That was stressful enough before he caught Ziva in the interrogation room and questioned her about an indiscretion she had with Adam Eschel, who is a foreign operative and off-limits to her. Tony was hurt over that, but they managed to repair it. Then they resigned from NCIS, confusing them further, and were, some short while later, pulled into a top-secret, classified mission that was conducted by my daughter who I thought was dead for a while.

"They have had no time to adjust to any of this and then all of a sudden, they are married and living together and going on a honeymoon. This is a lot of change. They haven't exactly been given the time to think anything through about work or their future. This time is much needed for them. They need to grow accustomed to living together and being a married couple before they can decide if they are going to work together or work at all. Just be patient with them Abby, they have a lot to process."

"They most certainly do," Jen said. "Growing closer, one of them hurt and the other there more than should happen, a fight for revenge and succeeding and finding out you didn't, an indiscretion that hurt one of them, an investigation by the DoD, resigning from the job they both love, getting even closer, going on a mission, getting even closer, completing the mission, getting married, going on a honeymoon, living together, having their jobs offered to them again. That's a lot, Abby. That would be overwhelming to the absolute best trained Mossad Officer I've ever met before, which was Ziva. They need time to think it through and work it out before they can make a decision. This was their opportunity to make a decision and go through with it completely. They need to talk it over and work it out among themselves. Give it time."

"Fine, I will give it some time," Abby said, feeling very resigned and as though the father/daughter pair was ganging up on her in her emotional state. "But, that doesn't make me any happier with them."

"No one said you had to be happy about their decision, Abby," Gibbs said honestly. "But, it is their decision to make and no one else's. I don't wish any of you to contact them and try to convince them one way or the other. They need the time, like Jennifer said, to process everything that they are going through and have gone through over the last year."

"I know," Abby said again. "I just wish it was easier for them. They've never had it easy, you know. Especially not with… never mind."

"Especially not with rule twelve?" Gibbs asked. "No, I didn't make it easy on them. Did I know how they felt about each other before the wedding and before a wedding was suggested? Yes, I did. I have known for a very long time that they were in love and perfect for each other. But perfect doesn't mean nothing clashing. I'm sure they have something to get used to with living together, though they are kindred souls in some respects."

"Tony was never good at opening up his home to others, and now it is not just his home. They are combined and that is huge," Jen pointed out as though to emphasize the points that were already fairly well flogged by this point in the conversation.

"I know that," Abby said. "He's never had any girls over before Ziva, did you both know that?"

They nodded their heads in unison, but Abby was finally seeing what they were talking about in the amount that they had to absorb for information and changes to their lives and relationship over the last long year.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N – Here's another chapter for you. It is mostly Tony and Ziva, but a little bit of the others thrown in too. I know you are all wondering what they are up to with some time off. Read and you shall learn! Enjoy!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Sunday, October 20, 2013

"Shut up, Dornegat!" Jen shouted, which sounded out in the car they were sitting in, parked on a side street right near Tony and Ziva's apartment. "You are so annoying! Just keep your mouth closed!"

They had been sitting in that car since nine last night and it was now ten in the morning. Jen was exhausted and very annoyed. Dornegat had tried several times to make conversation with her, but had failed every time. He then went on to telling many stories about his whole life. Jen probably could have told you all of the lame things he had done throughout his life. She was so far beyond annoyed. She could probably kill Dornegat. Luckily, her phone rang at that moment, saving Dornegat's life.

"How you two holding up?" the voice of Gibbs said into the phone.

"If you ever put me with this lame man again, I might shoot you!" Jen raged into the phone. "All he wants to do is talk, talk, talk! And his whole life it lame, dull, and boring! I need to get out of this car before I 'accidentally' shoot his brains into the side window!"

"Calm down, Jen," Gibbs said, chuckling into the phone. "Has Parsons moved at all?"

"No," Jen replied. "He's sat in his car the whole night watching us while we watched him. Perhaps he got the memo on your rules: always watch the watchers. Made for an excruciatingly boring night! Can we come back now so I can pee and get some sleep!"

"Yes, you can," Gibbs said. "Tony and Ziva should be up by now and I'm certain they can take care of themselves if push comes to shove."

"Thanks," Jen said, turning on the engine, hanging up the phone and driving off at top speed in the Navy car she was using.

* * *

"There they go," Ziva said, looking down through the blinds in the window. "But not the other car."

"What do you suppose they are watching?" Tony asked thoughtfully, climbing out of bed and joining his wife at the window.

"Well, I suppose the Navy car was watching the other car, which I suppose was watching us or them," Ziva said thoughtfully. "Is it time we start to think, Tony?"

"Think about work, no," he said. "Think about what we've been through together, probably. Actually, it's probably past time for that. We've been here nearly a month and we've dealt with absolutely nothing except each other."

"That is very true," Ziva said with a chuckle. "I will work with breakfast if you will make the coffee."

"Sounds fair to me," Tony said quietly and kissed his wife on the cheek.

They got to work immediately in the kitchen with brewing coffee and cooking eggs. It didn't take very long. Then, they sat down on the couch and ate and drank their coffee in silence. When everything was gone they poured themselves a second cup of coffee and turned to face each other at the same time.

Living together had been too easy of an adjustment to make, in reality. They knew each other so well that they knew when they were really getting on each other's nerves, and for the first time in their lives they respected that and backed off, avoiding a fight and talking it out later. That was the bonus to having eight years of working closely before they got married.

"Where do we begin?" Ziva asked. "Do we begin at phone sex? Or Somalia? Or Paris? Or the elevator? Or Berlin?"

"We have to deal with all of it, I suppose," Tony said honestly. "I guess we start at phone sex."

They both laughed at the way they had met. Their eyes met and there was a twinkle of the raw attraction that they had felt that day. It had been so unhindered by what they now knew about each other and each of them had known that they were different than anyone else on the planet, but back then they never would have pictured the way they were today.

"What were you really doing?" Ziva asked.

"I was picturing Kate in a school-girl outfit," Tony said honestly and blushing. "She was really like a sister to me, but I guess we flirted a lot, just neither of us considered it flirting. We were close and her loss was difficult. Why wouldn't you talk to me that day?"

"I had orders to talk to Gibbs," Ziva said. "And, you know me, I was stubborn and Senior Field Agent was not as good as Supervisory Senior Field Agent."

They both laughed again. Then the mood turned serious one more time as Tony prepared to say something.

"Ziva, I know you're the one who shot Ari," Tony mentioned to her. "I've known it for a long time. I overheard Gibbs say something to you about what had happened in his basement then. I'm sorry you had to do that."

"I am not, Tony," Ziva said. "At first, it was difficult for me, but the more I learned about how bad he really was, the easier it was to deal with. I did it to save Gibbs, not because I had orders to do so. Gibbs was another NCIS agent that did not have to die. I had orders six months before then to terminate, but I did not follow them because he was my brother. I am sorry for not doing that. It could have saved Kate."

"But, then we wouldn't be sitting here," Tony argued. "I'm not sorry you didn't follow those orders."

They kissed and the discussion of that day was over, for now. Perhaps they would return to it later, but they were newlyweds and were definitely acting like it, spending most of their time in the bedroom without any clothes on was definitely the way to go.

* * *

"Before you two go," Gibbs said to his daughter and the other agent, "I need to know what Parsons was doing there all night."

"Watching us because we were watching him," Jen said quietly. "Now, can I please get some rest?"

"Yes, of course. Next time you'll have a day-time stake out. I have to start planning your work around a normal schedule anyway," Gibbs said. "Can't believe we've been at this a month already and we still have nothing on Parsons. He's got to be doing something wrong."

"You talk to Fornell?" Jen asked her father. "He left a voice message on the house phone yesterday morning, you listen to it?"

"Nope," Gibbs said. "Haven't been home yet."

"It said that he needed to talk about Tony and Ziva right away and you needed to call him. Do you want me to take care of it after I wake up, or are you actually going to go home and sleep?"

"I was thinking sleeping sounding like a good idea now that I know my little girl is safe," Gibbs said quietly.

They exchanged a smile and walked out of the squad room with only a glace back at the clock it was already noon and Jen groaned finally knowing the time. This was going to be a long day, because she would have to only take a short nap, so she would be able to sleep that night, unless she was staking out again. She was going to request McGee or someone that knew not to talk to her when she was in a bad mood or exhausted.

* * *

"So, where did we leave off?" Tony asked.

"I believe we only got through before I joined NCIS," Ziva said with a smile on her face. "After that we had that case where no one trusted me because I was Mossad."

"That's not true. Gibbs trusted you and so did I, miraculously. I just thought you would kill me," Tony said. "You want to talk about that undercover mission?"

"It was not your knee," Ziva pointed out again laughing at him.

"I know that," Tony told her also laughing. "But I thought it would keep me alive to tell you it was my knee. That was probably the single most difficult thing I've had to do with you."

"I would agree. The self-control that it took to not just allow it to happen then. How dare Jenny for putting us through that!" Ziva said angrily.

"But that summer was pretty awesome," Tony said. "It was almost like we were dating. We got really close, remember?"

"All those movie nights," Ziva sighed happily. "I really liked you, then, Tony. I knew that you would take me if I agreed to it. But, sleeping with a foreign operative for either an American or an Israeli is against the law for a Federal Agent or Mossad Officer. And I was afraid of my father and Mossad finding out. I know you gave me plenty of opportunities to open up and talk or tell you how I felt, and I know I denied them, and for that I am sorry, except that I don't think we would have turned out quite so happy had we started dating then."

"I'm inclined to agree with you, Ziva," Tony said nodding to her. "Then there was the disaster with Jeanne Benoit. That was an undercover mission gone wrong if ever I've seen one."

"Did you love her, Tony?" Ziva asked curiously.

"No," Tony said, looking straight into Ziva's eyes. "I did care about her, but I was not in love with her and did not love her, Ziva. She was a mission and I did take it a little too far and did get a little too involved, but I did not fall in love with her."

"You were so broken after things ended with her," Ziva reminded him.

"I was broken because it hurt you," Tony whispered. "I was afraid of hurting you and I had hurt you in the process, because I had kept it all from you."

"That's difficult," Ziva whispered, looking straight at Tony. "I wish I had known. But, I was still Mossad."

"Yes, you were," Tony said and there was a pause.

"What about Jenny's death?" Ziva asked. "And our reassignment?"

"We handled it as best we could," Tony said, grinding his teeth together a little. "We almost gave in then."

"I know," Ziva whispered. "We were close. That was the second time we kissed."

"In autopsy of all places," Tony remembered. "It was better than the undercover mission kiss, though. It was less for show and more… real."

"I agree," Ziva said. "Then I came back and you were still afloat. That was difficult for me. Do you know how bad I wanted to tell you about what my father was forcing me to do?"

"He forced you to date Rivkin?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Ziva said angrily. "It was not the first time he played director on me, Tony and asked me to do something that I did not want to do. He did that frequently, but it was the first time since I had joined NCIS. I did not want you involved, but I wanted you to have my back. I did not stop you when I knew you were involving yourself, but I could not help you, either. My mission was to date Rivkin and allow him to do whatever he was going to do."

Ziva was turning red from the anger.

"I'm sorry I killed him," Tony said suddenly.

"No, Tony. You saved me that day, do not be sorry."

"But, then you stayed in Israel," Tony whispered. "I wish I had convinced you to come back."

"Nothing could have convinced me short of my father letting me go," Ziva said. "He was the reason I stayed. He threatened my safety if I returned. I could not live in fear. I knew that I had to do the mission as well. I am sorry that I got caught."

"It's not your fault," Tony whispered.

"The happiest thing in my life was seeing your face when they pulled that sack of my head," Ziva told him. "I had never been happier to see you. And what you said! To hear it! It was the best thing I could have heard!"

"Seeing you alive made me complete," Tony said. "And I meant what I said then."

They kissed. They kissed deeply and lovingly, but then they pulled apart and continued down the path that they were going down.

"Paris was just perfect," Ziva said happily. "But we have already talked about that."

"There were our fiascos with EJ and Ray," Tony reminded her. "It was the only time we were both consistently seeing someone else at the same time as the other. But, honestly, I was only dating EJ because you were dating Ray."

"I only stayed with Ray because you stayed with EJ," Ziva whispered.

They shared a moment of silence, in which they came to the understanding that they were not the best at communicating in the past. Then, they continued on.

"You were devastated when Franks was killed," Tony said. "I had never seen you loose it other than the time Jenny was killed."

"He was a part of the family," Ziva said. "It was hard to deal with, but I was glad that you were there. We nearly lost control then, too. It would have been too soon, though. I would not have made it through."

"I know, you were still healing," Tony said. "I could see it in your eyes. That was how I guessed that you and Ray never did anything. That was also the only thing that stopped me that night, though you were so conflicted. You wanted to go ahead and do it, but you were so reserved and even a little afraid of what you were feeling. I knew that it was too soon, so I stopped myself before we went too far and I hurt you."

"Thank you, Tony," Ziva said. "I honestly wanted to more than anything that night. But, yes, I was afraid and I was still healing. I don't think I would have been able to handle it. Not like I do now. Not like I did even in the beginning."

"That leads us to this year," Tony whispered quietly. "We don't have to continue talking now, since it's time for dinner. We can pick this up tomorrow, right?"

"Of course, Tony. And this year is going to take us more time to get through emotionally than the things we've already dealt with individually. This year we were not individuals, I noticed. We were something more, I feel. We should have talked a little more," Ziva said quietly. "But we will start with the explosion tomorrow morning. You know, the elevator?"

"Yes, I know," Tony said quietly and kissed Ziva on the forehead.

They got up and began to work together in the kitchen to make dinner for themselves, feeling as though a huge weight had already been lifted off their shoulders now that they had opened up about the past quite a bit. They had a lot left to talk about and they both knew that and this past year was going to be the hardest for them to adjust to.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N – So a lot was talked about in the last chapter between Tony and Ziva. They covered a long time period, but I don't think the more recent events are going to be so quick to work through. I'm not certain on that. So, here's the next chapter. We've got Tony and Ziva. Plus, we get to see Parsons interact with Jen! Jen is also going to have a conversation with Gibbs and McGee. Let's see how it goes!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Monday, October 21, 2013

Ziva awoke and realized the bed was empty and she was cold. The night had been colder than normal for that time of year and she was not wearing clothes. She shivered and opened her eyes. It was earlier than they normally got up. Suddenly, the bedroom door opened and Tony walked in.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I didn't think you would be up yet. Do you want some coffee?"

"Not yet," Ziva whispered and pulled Tony close to her.

They snuggled together as Ziva glanced at the clock. It was six-thirty in the morning. They were silent for a moment as Ziva warmed up.

"The elevator," Ziva said quietly.

"Yes, the elevator," Tony whispered back to her, kissing her forehead. "It changed us forever, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did," Ziva agreed. "We were more open in the four hours in that elevator than we had ever been in our entire time at NCIS combined."

"I know, we learned a lot about each other," Tony said. "Were you afraid?"

"Terrified until you put your arms around me," Ziva whispered to him, feeling a little vulnerable, though she was more comfortable with that when it was just her and Tony there and no one else. "I was glad you were there. I knew that you were safe, at least."

"And I knew that you were safe," Tony whispered. "I suppose I should've cared about the team a little more, but you were the most important one to me, even then."

"Same," Ziva whispered. "I was actually relieved that we started opening up to each other in the elevator. But, I was also terrified. A relationship with you would take away my best friend, I thought. I did not realize that I could keep my best friend and make you my lover too. I have never experienced something like this before, Tony."

"Neither have I, Ziva," Tony whispered, kissing her on top of the head again. "I know I've been engaged before, but Wendy was anything but my best friend. Actually, we were probably each other's worst enemies when I proposed to her. But, I did love her, I think. It was not like this, though. This is something I've never felt before. The need to have another, the feeling of not being able to live without you, the deep emotions and satisfaction that I have from knowing that you are here and safe and happy. I wouldn't trade anything in my life, because I wouldn't have you if anything were different."

"I agree, Tony," Ziva said. "Although I have never loved a man, I have never experienced anything that was close to this. I also get satisfaction out of this."

They kissed briefly.

"I was so scared when the bomb went off, Tony. I was afraid of Harper Dearing. I knew that he was a terrorist and, well, you know my experience with terrorists. I was terrified that something bad would happen to either of us. Losing one of the others was not really a pleasant thought, but the thought of losing you was not something I could tolerate at all," Ziva explained. "I do not know what I would do without you in my life. You have changed me in many good ways. I am allowed to feel and show my feelings whenever I am around you. You taught me that, and I thank you."

"You are very welcome, Ziva," Tony said. "And, likewise, I don't have to hide behind movies when I'm with you. I finally know what it feels like to be loved and to have someone special in my life."

They were silent for several moments, before Ziva leaned up and pressed a kiss to Tony's lips. She had never been happier in all her life to have this man by her side, knowing that he would do anything for her to keep her safe. She didn't need to question that. All she had to do was think back to Somalia. He would literally travel halfway around the world to save her if she was in danger. She had seen this already and she trusted him more than anything else in the world.

Tony pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. They definitely had a lot to deal with, but these were some of the more difficult topics to deal with, because they were so much more recent. So, they both knew that they had to deal with them one at a time.

* * *

Jen was just about to arrive at the office. The light turned red and she stopped the car at the line. She looked into the lane next to her and saw that it was a car that looked oddly familiar. She did not recognize the driver, but the car seemed too familiar to her, for some reason. She shook it off and drove when the light turned green.

She drove all the way to the NCIS parking lot and parked her car and got out. She made sure her door was locked and walked to the elevator. She was surprised her father had not taken her off field work yet, considering she was already five months pregnant. She pressed the button and the elevator doors instantly opened to reveal Parsons standing there. He smiled as Jen stepped inside and pressed the button for the floor with the squad room.

After a moment, Jen looked over to see Parsons still smiling at her, looking overly satisfied. Jen reached past him and hit the emergency stop switch and glared at him, placing her hands on her stomach as the babies kicked away at the sudden stop of movement.

They stared each other in the eyes for about two minutes before either of them moved or spoke. It was Jen who broke the silence.

"What are you doing here?" she asked Parsons.

"I am here to see Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo," Parsons said.

"Then, you are in the wrong place," Jen muttered to him. "They do not work here."

"Oh, really? They are not NCIS Special Agents?" he asked, his eyebrows flying up onto his forehead in a almost cartoon way. "Are you sure?"

"I am certain of it," Jen said darkly. "They chose not to take the badges back just yet. They needed some time to think on what they wanted to do."

"Well, I hope they have a good lawyer, because they are going to need one. I just found out that I can have them testify against each other about what they were doing in Berlin," Parsons said. "I'm still trying to figure out how to bring you and your father down, as well."

"It won't happen," Jen affirmed.

"What won't?"

"Any of it," Jen said to him. "I'm immune since it is classified and my father is also immune, because he did not sign off on any mission to Berlin."

"What do you mean I won't get them to testify? They have to if they are subpoenaed!" Parsons argued.

"Here, maybe this is news to you, Parsons," Jen said quietly and stepped toward him a little as he backed away from her glare, "Tony and Ziva are not just together at night. You got the last name wrong anyway. They are Mr. and Mrs. DiNozzo now. They got married in September. They are husband and wife and it is against the law to make them testify against each other, if you haven't read that part of the laws."

"Did they get married so that they could just avoid that?" Parsons asked.

"No," Jen said sternly, taking another step forward toward Parsons.

He was now backed against the cold metal of the elevator, feeling rather intimidated by this small, pregnant girl. It was not a feeling that he was comfortable with. He had never been intimidated by a girl before and she was not even touching him. She was just scary, like her father.

"Then, why did they get married?" Parsons asked.

"Well, I know that you are not blind," Jen said. "For example, I know that you approached Tony about how Ziva was always hurting him by turning to other men. Therefore, I know that you can see how perfect they are for each other. But, really? Are you so stupid as to believe that they can't see it? Are you so stupid as to believe that their time off together couldn't change something about the way they work? Why else would they have to think about taking back the badges? Working together when you are married to someone is different then working together when you are dating someone or like someone and aren't with someone. They need time to adjust to what they did before they come back to work, since they were not coworkers when this all started."

"You are scary, child," Parsons said, visibly shaking, at least it was visible to Jen. She could see how scared he was.

"Leave them alone. They did nothing wrong in Berlin. If my report is ever declassified you will see that," Jen admitted. "But, your security clearance is not high enough. And, trust me. I investigated what they did in Berlin, because there was suspicion. So, I know that you have nothing!"

Jen turned the elevator back on and gave Parsons one last long glare and then turned to face the elevator doors, waiting for them to open. She left as soon as the doors were opened, leaving Parsons behind her, staring in awe as she stormed away and sat down at her desk.

Jen was early and she turned on her computer first thing. She knew that Vance was looking down at her and she did not even bother to look up at him to see why he was watching her. She went through her emails and then her computer froze and would not unfreeze. She hit it and it did not work. She hit it a few more times.

"That's not going to fix it," McGee said, as he entered the office. "How come Parsons is standing at the entrance to the elevator in shock?"

"Could you fix the computer?" Jen asked.

"As long as you answer my question," McGee bargained.

Jen nodded and stood up, leaving McGee room to work on her computer. Jen looked at him as he started to do various things. When McGee looked up curiously, Jen remembered that he could talk and work at the same time. Jen moved and sat down on the edge of the desk next to him.

"Well, Parsons was in the elevator when I went in," Jen said. "He was looking for Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David."

McGee laughed and so did Jen.

"He didn't know they were married and then he tried to tell me that they only got married because they couldn't testify against each other that way," Jen explained. "I told him the truth of the matter and that they no longer worked here. They needed time to adjust to everything they had been through over the summer before making a decision. Then, I proceeded to explain to him that they did nothing wrong in Berlin, but his security clearance was not high enough to view that report and he needed to leave them alone."

McGee sniggered again and then turned his attention back to Jen's computer. He fixed it in a moment, but was searching it for a virus or some sign of hacking, because there was no obvious reason why it froze.

"McGee, what are you doing at Jen's desk?" Gibbs asked as he sat down at his own desk.

"Something's wrong with her computer, boss, and I wanted to fix it before she beat it to death," McGee said, without looking at Gibbs.

"Good idea, she can get violent with them," Gibbs laughed. "Although, I don't understand Jen! You can hack into things, but you can't deal with normal computer problems."

"I was Mossad and a marine," Jen explained. "We didn't deal with computers very much. I learned the hacking skills when I was bored at night and Isaac always fixed the simple problems for me."

Everyone laughed. But, McGee looked at her curiously.

"You learned to hack because you were bored at night?" he asked.

"When I was younger, McGee," Jen explained, her eyes narrowing. "I was thirteen when I learned how to hack. A little too young for what you're thinking of, even in an organization such as Mossad."

McGee nodded in understanding and Gibbs' eyes narrowed. The way Jen said that was a little off. Jen's eyes met her father's.

"Okay, fine," Jen agreed with her father's expression. "A little too young for some in Mossad, but not for everyone. They did issue those orders sometimes to the younger ones, when they were playing rebels or what have you. Eli was actually furious when…."

"No details, Jen," Gibbs said. "Wait, what?"

"I said, Eli was furious when Isaac and I stopped acting and started really doing it when I was sixteen," Jen said quietly.

Gibbs shook his head. "Sixteen is too young."

"I know," Jen said. "I didn't know then, but I do now."

"Well, I guess when in a situation where you are around it and trying to act it out with someone you love, no one can blame you," Gibbs said with a shrug. "I always did wonder about Tony and Ziva and that undercover mission."

"I doubt it, Gibbs," Jen said as though she knew what had gone on, which she had reports.

"Since when do you call me Gibbs?"

"Since you hate being called Dad on the job and you start treating me like any other employee," Jen said with a shrug.

"I'm not," Gibbs said. "If any of my other team members were five months pregnant and the size you are, they would be doing only desk work and no field work at all. You are lucky. I still let you do the field work, most of it anyway."

"I know," Jen said with a smile. "You done yet, McGee?"

"Yea, someone hacked your computer. I'm shutting it down and using mine to find out who hacked it," McGee said.

"Great. Now I am computer-less," Jen sighed and rolled her eyes, even though they all knew that this was a huge problem and she was brushing it off like it was nothing at all.

* * *

A/N – well, that is interesting! Only talked about the elevator with Ziva and Tony and someone hacked into Jen's computer at NCIS! Let me know what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N – Here's chapter 5! This one is filled with stuff that's not so good, but exciting all the same. Enjoy.

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The alarm went off again. Jen had hit the snooze button at least five times already. Now she realized what she had done and looked at the clock. She was already running late. She shot out of bed and quickly regretted moving so fast. Her head spun and she sat there, while she got her bearings back. Then she stood up a little slower and sent her father a text message.

**_Overslept. Going to be late. Leaving here in about 10._**

That was easy enough. She didn't bother with a shower, since she was running late. She quickly ran a brush through her hair and changed her clothes. When she got to the door, she noticed that her keys were not on the key hook where she left them last night and her shoes, which she always left by the door, were gone.

Who would take keys and shoes? Her car was still there. But her keys were gone. She scratched her head and thought hard. She had other shoes, but the ones that she had left by the door were the only ones that kept her back and knees comfortable throughout the day while she worked with the added weight in her middle. She sighed and turned to get another pair of shoes. Then, she stepped out of the house, with some spare cash. She was going to have to take the bus that morning.

As soon as she turned around from locking her door, holding the spare key in her hand, she stopped, feeling as though there was danger. She looked all around her yard and didn't see anything. She took one more step and then heard it. A gun was fired from not too far away. The bullet hit her in the shoulder with too much force, causing her to stumble backward. She tripped over the steps of the house and smashed her head into the stone stairs. She was knocked unconscious then.

* * *

Gibbs was pacing. He was pacing because an hour ago he had received a text message from his daughter saying that she was leaving her house in ten minutes. It only took her ten minutes to get to work when she was driving like a normal person, and less if she was driving like she was in the Middle East. He was pacing and glancing at the clock on the wall.

"McGee, trace her cell phone," Gibbs said.

"Whose, boss?" McGee asked.

"Jen's, who else's?" Gibbs asked angrily.

"Well, Abby's not here either, boss? Should I try calling her or texting her?"

"Try, yes. I'm going to call Jen see if she answers, but you need to get a pinpoint on her cell phone," Gibbs said as he picked up his own phone and dialed the number for his daughter, feeling that something was wrong, not only with his little girl but with Abby as well, another one of his girls.

The phone rang and rang and rang. He could hear McGee get a hold of Abby behind him. McGee was talking quickly as he worked on his computer. He was distracted by something.

"Abby calm down," he said. "Tell me what happened?"

"My apartment was shot at this morning," she said frantically on the other end of the phone. "I'm in the car now, though. I'm on my way. I'm fine, I wasn't hit. I don't know who did it. I need you guys to come and look at the house to see if you can get any trace."

"Sorry, what, Abby?"

"My house is a crime scene!" she shouted into the phone so loudly that Gibbs could hear her through the phone.

"Boss?" McGee said as he found something on his computer.

Gibbs started to step over and could hear Abby talking loudly still.

"Are you listening to me McGee, or are you trying to work while you talk to me again?" Abby asked.

Gibbs took the phone before looking at McGee's computer. When he did he was shocked to see that Jen was still at her house.

"Abby, Jen hasn't come into work yet. He was tracing her cell phone. She text me an hour ago saying she was leaving in ten minutes. She is still at her house though. What happened with you?"

"Someone shot at my house this morning before I went to leave," Abby said. "I spent my morning dodging bullets and hiding in a closet. What's going on with Jen, did you try to call her?"

"She's not answering. I'm worried," Gibbs said. "We're going there now. When you get here, just stay here. I want you to call Ziva and Tony and tell them what's happened, or at least what you know."

"Will do, Gibbs," Abby said quietly, knowing that she was, again, becoming an investigator for the purpose of the safety of the team.

* * *

Ziva stirred lightly in the morning sun. She did not particularly want to wake up, but she did not feel herself this morning. She glanced at the clock it was ten already. That was unusual. They had gone to bed early last night too. She looked up and noticed that Tony was staring down at her.

"I thought you were never going to wake up," he said to her. "You were tired?"

"I guess so," Ziva said, sitting up slowly and disentangling herself from Tony's arms.

She made her way to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. She was a little pale. Maybe she was coming down with something. But then, she never got sick. Quite suddenly, her stomach lurched and she rushed to the toilet, making it just in time.

Tony could hear her getting sick in the bathroom at the same time that one of their phones was ringing. He went to the door, ignoring the cell phone, thinking that Ziva was more important. He went right in, not bothering to knock or talk to her first.

"Everything okay, Ziva?" he asked.

She nodded as she stood up to brush her teeth. Oddly she felt perfect now. She felt just fine, as though she had never gotten sick. She reached over and flushed the toilet.

"Is one of our phones ringing?" she asked.

"That's the third time, it better be important. I was going to make French toast this morning," Tony said and walked back into the bedroom, allowing Ziva to finish brushing her teeth.

"DiNozzo," Tony said into the phone, already knowing that it was Ziva's phone.

"Tony!" Abby said frantically into the phone. "I tried calling you two times before this, why didn't you answer? Where is Ziva? This is her phone! I was actually calling her."

"She's in the bathroom. What is wrong Abby?"

"Someone shot at my apartment, Tony," Abby said quickly, like she usually did, but this was faster because there was adrenaline pumping through her system still. "Someone shot at my apartment and I hid in a closet. I am okay, just rattled. But Jen never came into work today. She never left her house. About an hour ago she sent Gibbs a message saying she was late and would be leaving her house in ten minutes. She never left her house. Gibbs and McGee are on their way there now and I will be alone at NCIS with Ducky and Palmer, if they are there. Ducky was sick yesterday and Palmer has had a lot of baby stuff going on with the adoption place! Tony, what if Jen is hurt?"

"Calm down, Abby. Ziva and I are on the way, okay?"

"Yea," Abby said quietly. "See you soon. Meet me at NCIS."

"I will," Tony said quietly and hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" Ziva asked coming out the bathroom finally.

"We're heading to NCIS today, sweet cheeks," Tony said quietly. "Abby's apartment was shot up. She's fine. Jen never showed up for work. Last contact was over an hour ago. Her cell was traced to her apartment."

"Sounds like a bad morning all around," Ziva said quietly as her stomach churned. "I am not feeling very well."

"Stomach still?" Tony asked. "Your color has drained from your face again."

"Has it?" Ziva asked. Then, she clapped her hand over her mouth and ran for the bathroom again. Tony could hear her getting sick.

"I'm going to grab some crackers and make you a slice of toast. But, we've got to go see that Jen's okay, if you are up for it?"

"I'm coming, Tony," Ziva said, as she took a break from throwing up.

Tony nodded even though Ziva couldn't see him. He worked quickly and by the time Ziva came out again. Her face had color in it again and he handed her the toast.

"Water too," she said quietly. "I'm a little dehydrated."

"Dry heaving?" he asked.

"Once," Ziva said.

He grabbed a bottle of water and they made their way out the door while Ziva nibbled on a corner of her toast.

* * *

Gibbs pulled into Jen's driveway and nearly flew out of the car. He could see her lying on her steps unconscious. McGee instantly dialed the phone, but didn't place the call yet.

"Ambulance, boss?"

"Yes," he said before ever getting to her.

As soon as he was there. He noticed that she had been shot in the shoulder. He could see blood oozing out from under her. She was shot through and through. His heart nearly stopped and he took the phone from McGee.

"911 what is your emergency?" the operator asked.

"We have a Federal Agent shot in the shoulder," Gibbs said.

"I need name, age, agency, and any medical conditions the person might have that you know about, as well as if this was work related or not?" the operator said at once. "We've already dispatched the ambulance."

"Her name is Jennifer Gibbs. She's twenty five and works for NCIS. She's five months pregnant," Gibbs said into the phone.

"Do you know next of kin?"

"I'm her father, and her boss, Jethro Gibbs. Her fiancée is in Iraq. He's the father of her children," Gibbs said.

"Have your agency locate and notify the fiancée, Agent Gibbs," the operator said. "Also, if you have any medical knowledge check her heart and breathing. Is she alert or unconscious? Is this work related?"

"It's too soon to tell if it is work related or not," Gibbs said. "Her heart is weak but stable and breathing is stable. It appears that she hit her head as well."

"Stay with her, the ambulance should be there in a minute," the operator said.

Gibbs hung up the phone. "McGee, call Vance, tell him what happened with Abby and Jen," Gibbs said handing the phone over to McGee.

"Yes, boss," he said dialing the phone again. He listened to it ring a couple of times before the secretary picked it up. "Is Vance in, this is Special Agent McGee."

"Just a moment, Agent McGee."

He waited while the secretary went to tell Vance that he had a call. The ambulance arrived and started to take Jen's vitals.

"When you're done start bagging and tagging and taking photos. If I have to send Tony and Ziva to help you, I will. But, I'll try not to use them. I can't believe we're now two short, plus Abby is not coming into the field. I can't help but think these are related," Gibbs said, rolling his eyes. "I'm going with her to the hospital. Have Abby locate Isaac's CO and tell him what happened."

"Yes, boss," McGee said as Vance answered in his hear.

"Agent McGee, this better be good, I was in a meeting with the Secretary of Navy," Vance said.

"Jen's been shot and is on her way to the hospital. Someone made an attempt on Abby this morning too," McGee said into the phone. "We're two down and I'm at Jen's house now. About to start processing by myself."

"I'll be right there. I'll see if I can get one of these two to help as well, probably not Ziva, she doesn't look well right now, and I need someone to take care of Abby while she's here."

"Thanks boss," McGee said quietly into the phone and hung it up, picking up the camera as he went.

* * *

Tony, Ziva, and Abby all looked up as Vance came down the stairs from the catwalk to the squad room. He stopped in front of them.

"Jen's been shot," he said. "Abby, I heard what happened this morning. Tony, could you help McGee with photos or something that doesn't require touching or signing? Ziva, could you help around here with that stuff. Abby, I need you to locate Isaac David's CO and inform him of what's going on."

"Yes," they all said at once and scattered.

Tony kissed Ziva on the head as he headed down toward his car. "DiNozzo!" Vance called to him.

Both Ziva and Tony turned around. They looked confused.

"Both of you," he sighed. "I know you haven't made a decision yet, but we could really use your help around here. We were already one down. With Abby in danger and Jen going to the hospital we are now three down."

"Thinking, Vance," they both said at the same time as they got to work, going separate ways; Tony went into the elevator and Ziva went to a desk where Vance signed her in as McGee. Abby was already down in her lab.

* * *

A/N – What a twist of fate! Wonder where that will take us. Let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N – So, this starts right where we left off with the last chapter. That one was a little crazy with a lot going on! Wow! Now, we get to deal with all that! There's also some good news in this chapter, along with some worrying and some other things going on!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

"Damn it!" Abby shouted at her computer, hitting it for the first time in her entire life. She had never been angry with her machines. She had never shown any violence toward her babies (as she often referred to them as such).

"Something wrong, Abby?" Tony asked.

"I cannot even find out who Isaac's CO is! It's blocked!" Abby shouted angrily at her computer. There were tears in her eyes. She had not heard anything yet about Jen and she was scared and hurt.

Tony went over to her and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. She needed a hug, definitely. She cried into his shoulder for a moment, while Tony spoke to her.

"Relax, Abs. We got this," Tony said quietly, wondering what his sister needed. "I'll have Vance talk to SECNAV and ask if he could contact the Commandant to find the information. Just relax. There's some evidence to get angry at on the table."

She laughed a little. "Thank you, Tony," she said and wiped her eyes and got right to work. Tony had also left a Caf-Pow on the table, which did make her feel better, knowing that someone could take care of that with Gibbs at the hospital with Jen.

* * *

"I do not understand, McGee!" Ziva said angrily. McGee had never seen her react that wildly to anything before. "I did not do anything to that stupid machine! Why is it not working? What is wrong with it?"

"I'm working on it, Ziva," McGee said impatiently. "It's just frozen, but worse than Jen's was the other day."

"Jen's computer was frozen?" Ziva asked, suddenly very curious and no hint of anger in her that had been there a second ago. Instead, worry was lacing her expression.

"Yes," McGee said, nodding in resignation, hopeful that he might figure out what was going on with Ziva, to make her so wild today; _perhaps her and Tony had a fight this morning,_ he thought. "Someone had hacked into it."

"Did you _find_ the hacker?" Ziva asked, looking totally malicious, like she had looked when she had first joined NCIS so many years ago and was still very much Mossad. McGee shuddered a little under her stare that was so angry and dangerous.

"No, not yet," McGee said, his voice small and intimidated as he saw the familiar expression that he had not seen in years.

"Could be the same hacker," Vance said as he came into the room; he was the only calm one in the room that McGee knew about. "_Tony_ DiNozzo, I'm giving you point on this, which means I need you to temporarily take this back. I'll worry about the paperwork."

"Vance, I would very much like to discuss that with my wife first," Tony said quietly and dangerously, almost mimicking Ziva's mood. This made McGee's head whip around. Since when did their moods match that perfectly when they were not fighting with each other? He had been so calm just a second ago, and now he was as pissed off as Ziva was!

"Fine, take half an hour for lunch. Come back with a decision. But, I need someone to take point and McGee is not ready. No offense meant, McGee," Vance said with an eye roll for Tony and Ziva, since he thought the marriage was all just a scam to keep Parsons off them.

* * *

Gibbs stood pacing the waiting room. Ducky was sitting in a chair near him. Gibbs' phone rang again and he ignored it again. Ducky had never seen quite Gibbs like this before. The only time that had come close was when Ziva was in Somalia. Honestly, he was a wreck. He could not sit still. He looked like a father who was fearing losing his daughter and two grandchildren. Ducky nearly shuddered at the very thought of it.

Gibbs had already lost too much in his life. He lost Shannon and Kelly many years ago, but they were part of his life. He had thought he had lost Jen and Jenny as well. He got them both back and Jenny was sick. She had pneumonia. He had lost Kate many years ago on the job. He lost men in combat. He had thought he lost Ziva at one point, too. Losing these three was not something that Ducky wanted to see this man go through.

"She's in surgery, Duck," he said quietly as he continued to pace. His voice was calm, but his face was anything but, especially his eyes, which looked wild with worry and fear.

Ducky had only just arrived, to support him, since there was nothing he could currently do at NCIS. He had not asked for the details yet.

"She was only shot in the shoulder. But, she lost a lot of blood and they are hesitant to give her medication because of the babies," Gibbs said, rubbing his hands on his face. He sighed. "I can't lose her, too. I can't lose those kids either."

Ducky stood up and put his hands on Gibbs' shoulders. "I know, Jethro. What does your gut tell you?"

"The famous gut is not talking through these nerves," he replied, his voice turning shaky and fearful. "I don't know. Something feels wrong about this."

Ducky nodded. He knew what Gibbs was talking about. This was very odd indeed. Abby and Jen in the same morning!

* * *

"I'm not ready to go back to working yet, Ziva," Tony argued. Ziva had just insisted that he take the position.

"Then tell Vance that you will take it if you can have some time after the case is closed," Ziva said. "I know you are not ready. But, Vance is right. Someone does need to take point in the case. And Gibbs is obviously busy on this one."

"What about you, Ziva? Are you coming back, too?"

"I do not know, yet," Ziva said. "I cannot seem to think clearly today. There is too much going on with this case."

"It's always the personal cases that get to us," Tony said quietly.

"But it is the personal cases that remind us why we do what we do. I will take the badge back if you do, Tony," Ziva said.

He nodded. "We still need time to sort everything out, though," he said honestly.

"Then, that is what we tell Vance," Ziva said.

It was settled. They were returning to NCIS officially, but they still needed some time to work through everything; personal leave to deal with everything that they had been through.

The conversation with Vance that followed was more than he expected. He was receiving both of his top agents, but they needed more personal leave time. It was paid this time, though, since they were employees again. And, he had never taken any of them off the payroll. He had given them personal leave due to the circumstances of the past year. He had a lot of paperwork to do concerning Tony and Ziva. _And it's all for a scam, so they don't have to testify against each other,_ he told himself with a sigh.

* * *

"Talk to me, Abby," Tony said coming down into her lab again, fiddling with his badge, since it felt odd to have it at his hip again.

"You're back?" she asked excitedly.

"For this case," he said. "Then some leave. Then we will both be back together. Once we've sorted everything out."

She squealed in excitement and hugged him tightly. "The case," he reminded her after a moment.

"Well, Jen's house they used the most common bullet that you can find. A 9mm. My house there was two full-metal jackets and the rest were automatic stuff, but I can't trace them to a dealer. I'm thinking black market."

"A sniper is involved?"

"Not a very good one," Abby said smiling. "I'm still alive."

Tony narrowed his eyebrows. "Thanks, Abs."

* * *

"What do you mean, you cannot tell me who his CO is?" Ziva asked into the phone, raging at someone. Tony had just walked into the squad room. She was furious and her emotions were wild and out of control today.

"What's going on McGee?"

"She's talking to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. She's trying to find out who Isaac's CO is," McGee said.

"No! I need to know! Because his fiancée, who is pregnant with his twins was shot this morning! No I do not have any word on that! Just get the message to him!" Ziva shouted and hung up the phone.

As soon as she hung up she stood up and ran toward the bathroom up on the catwalk, with her hand over her mouth. Tony's eyes were sad as he watched this. That was the fourth time today that she had gotten sick since waking up this morning. McGee was watching curiously, he had not seen this yet.

"What's going on with her?" he asked.

Tony shrugged. "Anything new?" Tony asked.

"Not yet," McGee said. "Just got the information from Abby. Nothing to link the two shootings, really and nothing to suggest that this is related to anyone or anything at all. There's really not a lot of forensics to work with. Any word on Jen?"

* * *

"Agent Gibbs?" the doctor asked as he stepped out of employee area and into the waiting room.

Gibbs stood up, leaving Ducky behind to listen from a distance.

"Yes, that's me," he said.

"Jennifer just came out of surgery. She is stable. She lost a lot of blood, so we've given her a transfusion. We got a hold of her medical records from her midwife's office and have seen that everything was normal with the pregnancy. We have two heart rate monitors on her stomach now. The heartbeats are normal. We will do an ultrasound as soon as she wakes up. The only thing we have given her for the pain is Tylenol, intravenously. She should wake up in a few minutes from the anesthesia. We do not think she has a concussion. Call us as soon as she wakes up."

Gibbs nodded and then faced Ducky for a moment. He walked into the room. There were monitors everywhere. There were three on her bare stomach, some on her chest under her gown, monitoring her heart and breathing. One on her finger to keep track of oxygen levels and one on her arm for blood pressure.

The noise from the machines was confusing to his ears. He could see on the monitors what was going on. The two fetus's heart rates were normal. She was not having contractions, though the kids were kicking occasionally. Everything about his daughter was normal. There were tears of joy in his eyes as he realized that his girl and his grandchildren were going to be okay.

They had an IV in her arm with three tubes going into it. There was one with clear liquid to keep her well hydrated, one with blood to replenish her supply, and he assumed the other was a drip of medication.

He picked his phone out of his pocket and called Ziva.

* * *

Ziva was still in the bathroom, emptying her stomach contents into the toilet when her phone rang. She finished that and answered the phone, wiping her mouth with her hand and nearly gagging at it.

"Dav… DiNozzo," she answered.

"Hi, Ziva," Gibbs said. "You sound awful. Everything okay?"

"Perfect," Ziva said in a sarcastic tone.

"You been taking sarcasm lessons from your husband?" Gibbs asked, and then continued on without giving her time to answer. "Jen is stable. She'll wake up soon. Babies are good. She's fine."

"Thanks. I'll share the news," Ziva said quietly. "And, no, I have not been taking lessons from Tony."

"Perhaps you're around him a little too much recently?" Gibbs asked. "You seriously sound awful, Ziva."

"Hang on, Gibbs," Ziva just managed to say as she dropped the phone on the floor and continued throwing up until there was nothing left in her to get rid of. "I am fine," she said into the phone as soon as she was done, flushing the toilet and leaving the stall to see Tony standing there.

"You are not fine, Ziva," Gibbs said flatly. "I can hear. Not deaf yet."

"I am fine, Gibbs," Ziva said again, washing her hands with the phone pressed to her ear.

"Ziva. Are you sick?" Gibbs asked sounding worried.

"I do not get sick," Ziva said in a dangerous tone.

"Never lie to Gibbs, it's one of the rules, Ziva," Gibbs said.

"Attend to your daughter. I have to get back to work," Ziva said harshly and hung up the phone. She rinsed her mouth and turned to face Tony as she grabbed a couple of paper towels from the dispenser.

"Ziva?" he questioned.

"I need to go to the pharmacy tonight, Tony," Ziva said, looking at him with an honesty that she could not give Gibbs over the phone.

He nodded in agreement. "You on schedule, or no?" he asked.

"No," she said. "Should have been there two weeks ago. I should have talked to you about this before it got to this point."

He nodded in agreement again. "We'll stop on the way home. You look tired."

"I will be alright, Tony, for now," Ziva reminded him, looking vulnerable. "This is not the best timing, is it?"

"Not exactly," Tony said with a sigh. "Do you have any doubts?"

"No," she said shaking her head and walking into his arms and holding him tight. She was nervous, to say the least. But, she was also a little excited at the same time. She could not really describe what she was feeling, but contact with Tony was a must with all of the confusion her brain was giving her.

Ziva's phone started ringing again and she sighed as she answered the phone with a number she did not recognize.

"Special Agent Ziva DiNozzo," she said into it, without letting go of Tony.

"Ah, Special Agent DiNozzo, it is the Commandant," the man answered. "I have some news."

* * *

A/N – Wow! Cliffhanger. That is not normally my style. But it's fun! Hehe! All of the characters have a lot on their minds right now, though, as you can see! Let me know what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N – More excitement in many forms!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

"And, what is your news?" Ziva asked into the phone, staring into Tony's eyes.

"Well, it seems that the CO has lost track of Isaac David and he is officially MIA," the Commandant said into the phone.

Ziva choked in the shock that she was feeling now. She felt like she was going to be sick all over again. This was a terrible day. First Abby was shot at. Then, Jen was shot. Now Isaac was missing in action.

"How long has he been missing?" Ziva managed to ask.

Tony's arms tightened around Ziva's waist, to hold her steady since he could see that a breakdown was coming on.

"Three days," the Commandant said. "I'm sorry about this. Really, I am."

And the phone went dead and Ziva broke down completely and melted into Tony's arms. It was a long time before Ziva even attempted to regain control of herself. The door opened and someone came in.

"Tony, this is the women's room," Abby's voice said, as she took in the state Ziva was in. "Bad news?"

Tony nodded and didn't say anything. He didn't know the details and Ziva was obviously not talking right then.

* * *

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Ziva was dancing around the bathroom nervously. She was waiting for the timer to go off. She did not care that they were already running fifteen minutes behind. An urgent knock on the bathroom door reminded her of that.

"Oh, come in, Tony," Ziva said as she ran her fingers through her already straightened hair.

"If you're already ready, then why are you still in here?" Tony asked, and then he looked down at the counter just as the timer went off.

Ziva jumped at the sound of it, forgetting to pay attention for it.

"Ziva!" Tony said. His face split into a smile and he wrapped his arms around her, knocking into her with so much force that her back slammed a little harder than she would have liked into the wall behind her. He pressed his lips to hers urgently and she knew that it meant only one thing. Only one thing could get Tony excited quite like this after a pregnancy test. "We're going to have a family," he whispered in her ear before pressing another kiss to her lips.

She smiled against his lips and grabbed his hair holding them in place while their lips worked wonders with each other. His hands started to wander all over her body and hers all over his. He grabbed her butt and lifted her, pressing her back further against the wall as he continued to explore his ninja's body and trail kisses all down her neck.

They were already too far gone when Tony's phone began to ring. He groaned at it and looked. It was Vance calling.

"DiNozzo," he said answering it, without stopping touching Ziva.

"You two forget you have to work?" he asked and Ziva blushed, she knew that Vance thought the marriage was a sham.

"Uh, no," Tony said quietly. "We're just… uh… running a little late today."

"Get your butts in here!" Vance said angrily and hung up the phone.

"Looks like we're going to have to come back to this later," Tony whispered in Ziva's ear.

She frowned and so did he. She put her feet back on the floor and looked down and nearly died laughing. She picked up her brush and fixed her once perfect hair so that it was not entirely a mess.

"If you walk into the office like that then I don't think Vance will think that we are trying to fool anyone, yes?" Ziva asked.

"When you start to show he won't think we're trying to fool anyone either," Tony said with a smile on his face, that he just could not wipe off his face.

They headed for the elevator and stepped inside. Once inside they could not keep their hands off each other. When the doors opened and there was a stunned older couple they nearly died laughing.

"It is going to be a long day at the office," Ziva said quietly. "This was why neither of us was ready to return to work yet."

Tony laughed. "We'll make it work, somehow," Tony said, still laughing as they stepped outside. As they were walking Ziva only heard the sound and then felt a burning sensation in her leg. There was a gunshot in the distance.

"OW!" she shouted and immediately picked up her left foot, clutching onto Tony's shoulder for balance as tears instantly shot to her eyes from the pain she was feeling.

"What?" Tony said and looked at her.

His eyes trailed down to the leg that was up. "Ziva!" he said quietly and helped her over to the side of his building and sat her down and instantly pressed a hand to either side of her leg, where it was bleeding profusely. "Can you call Vance?"

Ziva grabbed her phone and pulled it out. She dialed the number. Her head was spinning as Tony took his work shirt off and ripped it in half. He tied half just below her knee to cut off the circulation to her foot.

"Vance," the director said into the phone.

"We're going to be later," Ziva said.

"What?" he shouted into the phone, sounding frustrated.

"Someone shot my leg," Ziva whispered into the phone, feeling unconsciousness about to take her from the loss of blood. Tony was on the phone with an ambulance as he saw Ziva's eyes threatening to close.

"Do you want me to try to keep her conscious?" he asked. "Then I got to go."

He dropped the phone on the sidewalk as Ziva dropped the phone she was holding.

"Hey, babe," he said quietly reaching for her hand with his bloody one.

He pressed his hands to her leg again, trying to step the bleeding or prevent it from happening.

"You got to stay with me. The ambulance is on its way. Come on Ziva. Talk to me about something," Tony said sounding worried.

"You're shirtless," she said quietly and a smile played at her lips.

"Yes, I am," Tony agreed. "I had to use mine to help you."

Ziva reached up and played with the hair on his chest. Then, she grabbed his shoulder. "You are hurting my leg, Tony," she said quietly.

"I have to keep pressure on it, sweet cheeks. I know it hurts," he whispered as he tried to keep the pressure, while she struggled to take her leg back just as the ambulance pulled up with McGee right behind it.

"Where did the bullet go?" he asked.

"By the looks of her leg it entered through the back and came out the front. So, going that way, toward my car," Tony said. "McGee, you've got this, right? Please tell me you've got this. I can't leave her!"

"I know that," McGee said. "I'll make it work, Tony. But, Vance is going to have an aneurism when he sees you're not there. You realize he thinks this whole wedding was just a distraction for Parsons?"

McGee's voice had lowered significantly as the EMTs started taking care of Ziva's leg and allowed Tony to continue stroking her hand. She grabbed his hand when they wrapped her leg tightly in gauze.

"We know," Tony said. "It's not, probie."

"Mr. DiNozzo, tell us, how old is your wife?" the EMT asked as McGee went away and got to work.

"Thirty-one," he said.

"Does she have any pre-existing medical conditions that we should know about?"

"She's pregnant," Tony said. "Don't know how far along, don't ask. My guess, about six weeks."

"Okay," the EMT said. "Does she have any allergies?"

"No," Tony said and then looked to Ziva who was shaking her head no to answer the question.

"Is there any other emergency contact aside from you that you want us to notify?"

"Our boss is at the hospital already with his daughter. He's the only other emergency contact," Tony said. "You probably met them yesterday."

The EMT looked at him. "Shot?"

"In the shoulder," Tony said.

"Yes, that was us," the EMT said and shook his head. "What kind of business are you all in anyway?"

"NCIS," he said quietly. "All of us."

"I'm going to go get this bullet to Abby," McGee said.

"Call Gibbs," Tony said to him as they loaded Ziva onto the stretcher.

McGee watched as Tony worriedly went in with Ziva.

* * *

McGee pulled out his phone as he got in his car, shaking horribly. He had the bullet. It was a full metal jacket. He dialed it and put it to his ear without hesitation.

"This better be good, McGee, Jen just woke up for the morning," Gibbs said into the phone.

"Ziva's been shot, boss, in the leg," McGee said. "Outside of their apartment on their way to work. They were running late for some reason."

"They're working again?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, they were until Ziva was shot," McGee said. "So that's yesterday. Vance is going to be furious that Tony's not here _and_ you're not here."

"Tell me, while the nurse is in there, did you notify Isaac?"

"He's MIA for the last three… well now four days," McGee said swallowing hard.

"Who the hell is taking down my team?" Gibbs asked furiously and hung up the phone on McGee, who shuddered at the anger of his boss. He had a lot to deal with. They would have to call Jenny in to get all the work done that needed to get done, otherwise this was going to be one long, lonely case.

He arrived at NCIS a moment later and received a hard stare from Vance, who rushed to his side as he got into the elevator to give the bullet to Abby.

"Where's DiNozzo?"

"At the hospital," McGee said.

"I meant Tony," Vance clarified.

"At the hospital with Ziva," McGee repeated with clarification. "He went with her. Her leg doesn't look good."

"Great! I've got two who are patients in the hospital and two who feel obligated to stay there. One with pneumonia, one who is in protective custody but also the forensic scientist and you! And the fiancée of one is MIA. What the hell is going on?"

McGee didn't answer as the elevator opened up to Abby's lab. He rushed in and handed Abby the evidence.

"What's this?" Abby asked.

"Run DNA, though it's not necessary. Look for any prints that might be on the bullet, though there probably aren't any anymore. Compare to the striations from the two that were shot into your place," McGee said quickly. "I've got a lot of work to do."

"MCGEE!" Abby shouted. "What the hell is going on?"

"Ziva was shot this morning. Tony's at the hospital with her. Jen is awake and stable. Her fiancée is MIA. Gibbs is with Jen. Jenny is sick. I'm alone right now, Abby, just please run that," he said quickly and stepped into the elevator before his stress could get to him a little more and cause a big fight between him and Abby.

* * *

It was Tony's turn to pace the waiting room now that Ziva was in surgery. He was scared shitless now that he was here. The adrenaline had worn off now and all he could do was pace. He paced back and forth and back and forth. He could not wrap his mind around everything.

Jen, who was like a sister to him, was here already. She had gone through surgery and was recovering. Abby, who was also like a sister to him, had also been targeted, but she was fine and was confined to the NCIS building and being with McGee all the time outside the building. Ziva, his wife, the love of his life, his soul mate, the mother of his child, was shot. His ninja had gotten shot and was nearly unconscious when they had put her under the anesthesia for surgery. He continued to pace, wearing a T-shirt that he always kept in his bag. It was an NCIS t-shirt.

He sat in the chair and went to put his head in his hands. He finally remembered that there was blood on them. It was Ziva's blood on his hands. Ziva's precious blood. The blood that kept her and his child alive. She had bled so much. He had not seen so much blood coming out of someone who was still living before. Yea, he was scared.

What if he lost the baby? What if he lost Ziva and the baby? He stood up again and started pacing. He knew someone was watching him, but he didn't bother to stop. His heart was in his throat and tears were streaming down his face.

"Tony," Gibbs said. "I heard over the intercom when they were bringing her in."

Tony didn't respond. He didn't know what to say to Gibbs. He didn't know how to express how truly terrified he was. His eyes met Gibbs and Gibbs could see how wild the expression on his face was.

"What aren't you saying, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"I can't lose her, Gibbs," Tony said, tears still streaming down his face.

Gibbs stepped over to Tony and pulled him immediately into a hug. He knew exactly how Tony was feeling. He had felt that lost when he had in fact lost Shannon and Kelly and had no idea where Jen was. He knew how Tony was feeling and it was not a fun feeling. But, Gibbs couldn't shake the feeling that there was something left unsaid.

"They're about to discharge Jen. Do you want me to come back after I drop her off at NCIS, where she'll be safe?"

Tony only nodded as Gibbs headed away and the doctor came out.

"Special Agent DiNozzo?" he asked.

"That's me," Tony said and rushed over to the doctor.

"Ziva is out of surgery. She's already awake and asking for you. They are doing an ultrasound now to make sure the baby is okay. She's a strong woman," he commented.

"Thank god!" Tony said and rushed past the doctor to go see Ziva.

He entered the room just as they found the little thing on the monitor and there was a strangely rhythmic sound that followed.

"That's your little one's heartbeat. Six weeks, Agent DiNozzo. Congratulations," the nurse said and printed out a picture and wiped off Ziva's stomach, before leaving the room.

Both Ziva and Tony had tears in their eyes as Gibbs came into the room. He was about to speak, but he did not want to interrupt whatever moment the two were sharing as neither of them noticed him. So he stood in the doorway and watched instead.

Tony walked to Ziva. Ziva looked at the picture in her hand and smiled through her tears and showed it to Tony.

"It's real," she whispered and pulled him into a hug.

That was when Gibbs noticed the ultrasound picture too. He smiled from the doorway.

"Ducky came to get Jen. I wanted to check on my other girl," Gibbs said quietly from the doorway.

The two didn't bother to hide their tears of joy. Ziva did, however, hide the ultrasound picture. They were not ready to share this yet. But, Gibbs had already seen it. He took Ziva's hand and took the picture from her. He looked at it while Ziva and Tony looked at each other.

"Congratulations. Guess Vance will have to believe it now," Gibbs said with a shrug. "And maybe Parsons and Chegwidden, too. How far are you?"

"Six weeks," Ziva said. "Please, Gibbs. Don't say anything to the others yet. We just found out for sure this morning."

He nodded and kissed Ziva on the head. He turned to Tony now. "I know why you were panicking so much when I saw you in the waiting area. I get it. Congratulations, son."

Tony smiled and hugged his boss. He didn't know what else to do. The embrace was short but tight. Then, Gibbs turned to walk away as the doctor's came back in.

"Since everything is normal. We're going to discharge Ziva now," the nurse said. "Everything is already signed by the doctor. Ziva you're going to have to follow up with an orthopedist in 8 weeks to get this off and a cast on. There was extensive damage to your tibia. We have pins and rods on there to hold it while it heals. We also need to size you for crutches to use. How tall are you?"

"Five foot four," she said quietly as she signed the papers.

They handed her a pair of crutches and said they could go.

"I'll drive you," Gibbs said, and went slowly so Ziva could keep up. Tony held the picture in his pocket for Ziva and they still had a hard time keeping their hands off each other. Gibbs asked about it in the car after noticing this in the elevator. "You two lose track of time this morning and get interrupted by a phone call?"

Tony laughed nervously and Ziva blushed. "Yes," they said together.

Gibbs laughed at his two agents and just shook his head.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N – Here is another chapter for you. Still have a lot going on!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Wednesday October 23, 2013

"Wow, Gibbs, your driving is horrible! It is a good thing there was no food in my stomach!" Ziva said, clutching at her stomach as they finally parked in the NCIS parking lot.

Gibbs chuckled. "You okay, Ziva?"

"I think so," she said. "I do not know how this elevator ride is going to go. Those usually make it a little worse."

"Here, have a cracker," Gibbs said and handed her a couple.

Ziva looked appreciatively at Gibbs. She was genuinely grateful for the crackers. She nodded as she crutched toward the elevator and Tony held her crackers for her. They got in and waited while it rose up to the squad room. It was already noon and Tony wondered what had been found, or not, about the case now that there was more evidence to work with.

The doors opened to reveal Jen sitting at a desk with a sling on her shoulder, Abby hopping around and looking at the big screen and sorting through everything they had so far and Jenny sitting at her desk, looking ill and holding her chest (Vance had obviously called her in, even though she had pneumonia).

Gibbs walked out of the elevator with Tony and Ziva. Vance was staring down from the catwalk and shaking his head as he saw Tony and Ziva so close to one another. He could see that Tony obviously cared about Ziva, but he just couldn't see how they had honestly ended up married when they never got along, other than making it so they could not testify against each other.

"DiNozzo and DiNozzo, my office, please," Vance said quietly and walked away from the catwalk.

Tony and Ziva looked at each other and sighed. They went toward the next elevator and got in. When it opened they made their way over Vance's office and went in without knocking.

"I have some paperwork to do for you two," he said. "First thing is first. Ziva, can I call you David?"

"No," she said. "That's not my last name. It is legally changed to DiNozzo."

"Why?"

"Because I'm married, Director, to Anthony DiNozzo," Ziva said narrowing her eyes, knowing exactly what the director already thought.

"Why did you two get married, and don't tell me because you love each other. I have witnessed the way you two act around each other at the office for the last five years. There is no love there. An attraction, yes, but love, no."

"Then, we have nothing to say, Director," Tony replied.

"People are asking questions, Tony," Vance said. "I've got Agent Fornell from the FBI on my case for this. I've got one from the CIA on my case as well. Also there's Parsons from the DoD on my case about it. They all think that it's something that you say it isn't. They think what I think, and I don't know how to defend you when I don't buy it myself."

"Then, have Gibbs defend us," Ziva suggested.

"He was never great with politics. Okay. I'll file the paperwork for you two, since you are married," Vance said. "That's a lot of paperwork. I need an updated address for both of you."

"We both live at the same apartment I was living at before we resigned," Tony said.

"You are both living there?" Vance asked.

"We are married, Director. Of course we are living together," Ziva said, narrowing her eyebrows more. "Excuse me, I need the ladies room, not feeling very well."

Ziva got up and left the office, looking rather pale.

"They discharged her while she was still in shock?" Vance asked.

"She's not in shock, Vance," Tony said. "She was not feeling well before she was shot. But we were both coming in anyway, because we knew you needed the help. You didn't have to call Jenny in while she's sick. McGee and I can handle the field work."

"Jenny's not in the field and I needed hands in the office too. I'm down a lot of agents because of this mess. I'm going to need any list of enemies that either you or Ziva have. I'm making them all give me lists, even if they have not been targeted yet," Vance said. "It feels like only a matter of time before McGee, Gibbs, and Jenny are targets. Perhaps even Ducky. I would hate to see it go this way. Go down, get to work."

Tony left the small office and wandered into the ladies' room. Ziva was at the sink washing her hands and face. Tony walked right to her and pulled her into a hug.

"How are you?"

"A little better than I was a minute ago," she admitted. "Come on, let's get to work so we can get this day over with, then we can get back to what we were doing this morning."

Tony smiled at her and pressed a light kiss to her forehead. "As you wish, my love," he whispered to her and led her out of the bathroom and into the elevator.

Gibbs stood up as soon as Ziva and Tony were back. They went to sit at their desks.

"Where's McGee?"

"We got the angle on where the sniper should have been when he shot Ziva," Abby said. "We think it's the same one that missed me, Gibbs. There are the same striations on the full metal jacket that were on the two in my apartment, which means that they were fired from the same weapon. And, if his misses on me are any indication, then it is a safe bet to assume that he was after Ziva's life, not her leg. McGee is looking now to see if he policed his brass or left it behind. I'm trying to get a location on where the sniper was in my case, but that's a little more difficult because I don't know the exact direction the bullets came from. I'm working on it."

"Good work, Abs," Gibbs said, kissing her on the cheek and turning to Jenny. "You're sick, why are you here?"

"I'm feeling a little better," Jenny admitted. "Doctor cleared me for desk duty last week anyway, so here I am."

"You need to be careful, Jenny," Gibbs said. "I don't know if someone is just after my girls, or if someone is after my team."

"I realized that," Jenny said, looking at Jen, Ziva, and Abby.

"Do you think they realize that Abby is staying with McGee? Should we all find a place to go that's safe?" Tony asked nervously.

"We're all going to be staying in a safe house," Gibbs said. "I sent Dornegat to grab your go-bags out of your cars. That way we are safe. We're taking two Navy cars over there. It won't be too cramped yet. There's only eight of us."

McGee walked back into the bullpen with a smile on his face.

"Not policing his brass. Looks like he fired two shots from up there. I also found the other bullet. I would like to get a trajectory, but my guess is that he was aiming for Tony. This is not a very good sniper, boss," McGee said, smiling at the girls that were in the squad room now.

"Abs, get down and run it fro prints and DNA," Gibbs said as Abby took the bullets and walked away with them. "McGee, get to work on the trajectory from Abby's place, work with her if you have to. Jen were you shot at close range, or no?"

"It was a 9mm that shot Jen," Tony said. "I'll work on the trajectory from that. Boss, you think this is all related?"

"Has to be," he said. "But, by who?"

"The rest of you, I need a list of enemies and any you might have made recently. Jen, if you could get me a list of Isaac's enemies as well, and we'll call it incomplete until he can come home and tell us it's complete, go ahead."

Everyone got to work on that. It was going to be a long day.

Around three, Gibbs looked up. He noticed that Ziva had her head down on her desk and was sleeping peacefully. He looked over at Tony who was watching her from his computer and smiling slightly at her. He glanced at Jenny who was working diligently and smiled. Then, he looked over at Jen who was rubbing her shoulder. He grabbed some Tylenol from his desk and walked over to her with a bottle of water.

"Here, take this," he whispered to her. "Should help a little with the pain."

"Is Ziva sleeping?" Jen asked her father.

"Appears that way," Gibbs said with a shrug. "Leave it alone. She's had a long day. I'm heading to Abby's lab."

Gibbs left the squad room then. He got down and found that McGee and Abby were glaring at each other from across the room. He shook his head silently, apparently there was trouble in paradise.

"What do you got?"

"A fingerprint that is not in the system. I've checked everything," Abby said. "I keep coming up blank. I wanted to hack into all agencies to double check, but McGee said I needed Vance's approval for that. He also thinks that I must have missed the sniper that I was facing since it came from over here somewhere. He is still working on where over there, since there are multiple locations that can get into my apartment from that angle."

"Are you two fighting?" Gibbs asked with a sigh.

"No, boss," McGee said at the same time that Abby said, "Yes."

"Want to take a moment to get your stories straight?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes," McGee said while Abby said, "No."

"You two might be the death of me," Gibbs said shaking his head.

"Sorry," they both said at the same time.

"Well, at least you agree on one thing. Whatever it is, fix it. Can't have my only two functional people fighting."

"Hey!" McGee said. "Tony is still functional."

"You didn't see him in that waiting room this morning, McGee," Gibbs said honestly. "I would not call that functional."

"He was fine when I arrived at the scene this morning."

"He was not fine while Ziva was in surgery," Gibbs said. "Trust me, you don't want to know. I get it."

"If you get it then it's serious, Gibbs," Abby said.

"Oh, it is serious," Gibbs said with a stern look at his two agents. "I'm hoping Jenny is better soon enough to help with this, to really help with this. But, I'm a little afraid of what it will do to her, considering so far it was only the women who were targeted."

"No, they went for Tony, too," McGee said. "Here's the analysis on the trajectory. It passed within inches of where his head was. If he had not looked down to see Ziva bleeding, then he would be dead with his brains on the sidewalk."

Gibbs swallowed hard. "Someone's after my team and I want to know who!"

He left the lab, without giving either of them praise after working so hard. He stormed back into the squad room and made his way up the catwalk, seeing that Agent Fornell was up there.

"Tobias," Gibbs said.

"Don't Tobias me, Gibbs," he said angrily. "I need a word with you! What the hell happened in Israel and how the hell can you condone those two getting married! You realize they only did it to save their own asses, right?"

"Tobias?" Gibbs asked.

"Agent Kort from CIA was shot this morning. They got his hip. He's at Bethesda," Fornell said. "All we know is that he was with you. We took the case."

"Any leads?" Gibbs asked.

"It's not your case, Gibbs," Fornell said. "I'm here about Tony and Ziva _DiNozzo_."

"Marriage is real," Gibbs said with a shrug. "Reason I ask is, if you hadn't noticed, I have one in a sling and one on crutches. Tony's brains should be all over a sidewalk by his apartment and Abby's should be all over her apartment. What the hell is going on and do you know anything about it?"

Fornell walked toward the elevator and both men stepped in. Fornell was the one who shut it off this time.

"Okay, here's what I know for sure. The DoD investigator, Parsons, has been fishing at both the FBI and CIA lately, as well as here. He is digging and looking for something to use against anyone. He is digging deeper and deeper. A lot of his questions have to do with you and your team. There's another CIA agent that are missing at the moment and we're not sure where she is. CIA Ray Cruz was let off and is also missing at the moment. I think there is more going on here than we are seeing. And we have also noticed strange activity from our cyber decision at the DoD."

"Who's the missing agent?" Gibbs asked.

"She's new and you aren't going to like it," Fornell said. "EJ Berrett. The DoD agent we're having issues with is also something you aren't going to like. It's Delilah. But that's all we can get on her. Only her first name. No last name, no DNA, medical records, or fingerprints. It's strange."

"Not good, got to talk to McGee," Gibbs said, turning the elevator back on.

He entered the squad room to find McGee at the big screen with Abby and the others pouring over the evidence one more time.

"McGee!" Gibbs said. "I need to know everything you can tell me about Delilah. Tony, I need to know everything you can tell me about EJ Berrett."

Both men looked at Gibbs and noticed Fornell standing there.

"It's a joint investigation now," Gibbs told them. "Fornell's got a case involving Trent Kort, who was shot this morning and is still at Bethesda."

"Boss, that was years ago, I don't know as I would consider her an enemy," Tony said, not looking at Ziva.

"I wasn't dating her that long!" McGee argued at the same time.

"And, Ziva needs to tell us all she can about Ray Cruz," Fornell said at the same time.

All three men looked at each other and then turned to Ziva.

"He's free?" she asked, looking pale and swaying a little in place.

Tony walked to her side just as her eyes slipped closed and she went to fall over. Tony caught her and lowered her slowly to the ground. He caressed her face as her eyes fluttered back open.

"You okay, Zi?" he asked.

"I... I think so," she said. "Just got really lightheaded. I think I need some lunch."

"Well, you've hardly kept anything down. How about some soup, if we can find some in this building," Tony said.

"I will go get some!" Palmer offered. "What kind of soup?"

"Chicken," Ziva said, sitting up and shaking her head a little, still feeling a little feint.

"Do you want to go back to Bethesda and get it looked at?"

She shook her head. "No. Not unless it continues. But, I do need to call… that place."

"Ah, yes, that place," Tony said quietly. "We can do that while you eat something. Is that one of the symptoms?"

"Yes," Ziva said.

"We'll continue this tomorrow, Gibbs," Fornell said. "I can see your team needs a little rest. Also, I need to discuss those two further tomorrow. I have some evidence that points toward it being falsified. I'd also like to question them myself tomorrow."

"Whatever you need to do, Fornell," Gibbs said.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N – Couldn't help putting this one up so soon after. Had the plot in my head, dying to get out.

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Tony and Ziva were clinging to each other in the back of the car with Jen and Gibbs in the front. They were on their way to a safe house now and Vance had agreed to not call them in during the night. They had nothing else to work on while they tried to figure out who was trying to take them out. FBI and NCIS agents were scattered around the safe house to be sure that nothing happened to any of them. CIA had wanted to help, but were not allowed. They had agents protecting Trent Kort in the hospital as well as help from the FBI.

Gibbs pulled the car into the driveway and got out, holding his gun up. He looked around and then motioned for the other three agents to go inside the house. Ziva was thankful that he had chosen to drive so gingerly this time. She hoped it was on her behalf but she knew that it had something to do with Jen and the fact that he was tired as well. She was thankful, nonetheless.

When they got inside Tony and Ziva went straight to a room with their bags in hand. Jen was laughing at the looks they were giving each other. Tony's hands were on Ziva before they ever made it to the door.

"Hold those thoughts for three minutes, you two," Gibbs said, coming into the house.

Ziva blushed and Tony groaned in frustration. They had waited all day, including a hospital trip in the middle of it. They turned around, dropping their bag by the only room that was downstairs. They returned to the living area and sat on the couch. Abby, McGee, Ducky, and Jenny had just come in.

"Okay, so we have four rooms and a pull out couch. I'll take the pull-out. Tony and Ziva you are downstairs in this room, so you don't have to use those things on the stairs and get more hurt. Falling is not your best move right now," Gibbs explained. "Abby and McGee, if you can get along long enough, you will have the master-bedroom upstairs, otherwise I will put Jen in with Abby. Clear?"

Both of them nodded. They were having problems but they were not talking about them to anyone. Everyone was staring at them.

"Just talk about it," Jen said to both of them and left it at that.

"Jen, you will have the room at the end of the hall and Ducky you have the one at the top of the stairs," Gibbs said. "Jenny, you can be with me."

"Good no privacy," she said, sounding frustrated.

"Would you prefer to share with the pregnant girl?"

"Nope," she said honestly.

"Good, you're in charge of figuring out what they've stocked this thing with for dinner. Everyone can go off. I'll get you all when dinner is ready. I expect everyone to be at the table at the same time. If we are living like a family we will act like one, too."

Tony and Ziva were off the couch faster than anyone, and halfway to their room when Gibbs spoke again.

"That includes you two. When I knock on that door, I expect you to be out here by the time everyone else is," he said in warning.

Tony shot a glare to Gibbs and led Ziva into their room. Abby and Jen chuckled as Ziva shot Gibbs a glare that made him gulp. He had never shown any fear toward Ziva, but for some reason, something had changed, even though she was on crutches at the moment.

In turned out, they did get interrupted, in the middle of things and they were late to dinner. Gibbs did not say anything about it, but also noticed that his two agents looked a lot happier and more content than they had earlier when he had threatened them, though, they were still pretty much all over each other. Their night was not yet done and he nearly laughed at his own thoughts about that.

* * *

Thursday, October 24, 2013

"Ziva, Tony, Fornell is on his way, he wants to question you individually about your marriage," Gibbs said. "I want you to be one hundred percent honest with him. He needs to see that you two are for real."

They both nodded and continued on with their work. Soon the ding of the elevator came and Fornell stepped out. He stopped so he could see both Tony and Ziva as they worked.

"Special Agent David, you're first," he said.

"It's DiNozzo now," she corrected him and got up with the crutches. He led her toward the elevator and then up to the conference room. He closed the door behind her.

"So, Special Agent David…."

"My last name is DiNozzo, Fornell," Ziva said maliciously. "It was legally changed when I married Tony."

"Okay, Special Agent DiNozzo," he said quietly. "I want to know when did you get married?"

"Sunday, September 8, this year," Ziva said.

"How long had you been in a relationship before getting married?"

"A little less than four months," Ziva answered him honestly.

"You were in a relationship over the summer?" Fornell asked. "When did that start?"

"When we resigned," Ziva said to him.

"Okay. I want to know, why did you decide to marry Anthony DiNozzo?" Fornell asked, scowling at the facts that were sitting in front of him. He had so hoped that they had not been in a relationship.

"Because I want to spend the rest of my life with him, Agent Fornell," Ziva said honestly. "And now seemed like as good of a time as any. Honestly, I've known him for nine years and I know all his good habits and all his bad habits. I was staying with him over the summer and I knew all of his living habits as well. I can't picture it any other way."

Fornell's eyes narrowed at her blatant honesty.

"Have you slept with Anthony DiNozzo?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"When is the first time that happened?"

"Before we were together," Ziva said, blushing a little. "We went to Berlin and that's when."

"Have you slept with him recently?"

"That, Fornell, is none of your business. But, if you must know, then yes, last night was the most recent time," Ziva said, blushing again at the conversation.

"Have you and he decided what you want to do about your careers?"

"We are returning to NCIS after another month off, once we are all safe," Ziva said. "We will still be partners, unless we see, or Gibbs sees that we cannot handle it."

"Do you have any plans for the future?" Fornell asked.

They had just talked about that last night, she knew what their plans were, but she was not going to share the part that involved a baby.

"We are beginning to look for a house. It will have a little more room than his apartment. My lease just ended, though I have not been there since the beginning of the summer sometime," Ziva commented.

"That's all, thank you, send your husband up," he said with a scowl on his face.

Ziva did just as he asked. She whispered, "Just be honest, that's what I did," in his ear and he nodded to her and went up the stairs to the catwalk and turned into the conference room.

"Ah, Special Agent DiNozzo, come in, sit down," he said with a false smile on his face, really hoping to catch some disagreement in their story. "When did you marry Agent David?"

"Her last name is DiNozzo," Tony said. "She changed it when we got married. And Sunday, September 8 of this year."

Fornell frowned. Tony was not sure what that was about. He thought that Fornell should be on his side, since they were friends for a while, but he realized that Fornell thought that their relationship was false.

"How long were you dating each other before you got married to her?"

"A little less than four months," he answered honestly. "We started dating after we resigned."

"Okay. I want to know, why did you decide to marry Ziva David?" Fornell asked, scowling that so far the stories were straight and seemed to be the truth.

"Her last name is DiNozzo, Fornell. She changed it when she married me," he corrected him again, feeling frustrated with this. "I married her because I love her and can't picture spending any piece of my life without her. I've known her for nine years and learned all her good habits and bad ones. I know her better than myself. And while we were staying together almost every day over the summer I learned what her living habits were like. Honestly, I can't picture my life any other way."

Fornell's eyes were wide, since the answers were nearly identical, but they were enough different and they were so heartfelt.

"Have you slept with Ziva David?" he asked him.

"Yes," he said. "Her last name is still DiNozzo."

"When is the first time that happened?"

Tony smiled at the memory and decided it was best to be honest. "Before we were even together. We were in Berlin," he said with a broad smile on his face, remembering how perfect Berlin was for them.

"Have you slept with her recently?"

"She's my wife, Fornell, what do you think?" Tony said. "Last night."

The smile on his face was almost unnerving to Fornell. He was smiling like a genuinely pleased and happy man who had an amazing wife and a plan for the future.

"Have you decided what to do about your careers?"

"We're coming back to NCIS. We have another month off once everyone's safe, but we're coming back," Tony said happily. "We're going to be partners unless we can't make that work out, just like we've always been partners."

Again the answers were the same, but just enough different and so heartfelt that Fornell had to believe that it was the truth.

"Do you have any plans for the future?" Fornell asked.

Tony was going to leave the pregnancy out of this. They had decided that while they were still in so much danger that Gibbs was really the only one that needed to know that and he did. He knew that Ziva was pregnant and it was none of Fornell's business.

"We're starting to look for a house. We need the room and her lease is officially up. We can afford it and we want it. You know, the whole American dream thing, but I'm pretty sure we're going to leave out the white picket fence and the dog, I'm not big on dogs," Tony said. "They don't like me. So just a house to call our own and to turn into a home."

"That's it, DiNozzo, thank you," he said and smiled at Tony.

Finally, they were both free from Fornell's scrutiny of their marriage. Tony quietly wondered how many more times he would have to answer similar questions. He wondered if maybe he should start acting a little more inappropriately around the office, so that others could see that they were for real. But, he realized that would not be good for work at all. They had to focus while they were there, and that was that. The others would see it eventually.

He sat down in his chair and continued his work when Abby came upstairs.

"I have a DNA match that connects all three shell casings!" Abby said excitedly. "I don't know who the DNA and prints belong to, but I do know that they all match each other. This is great! Now we know for sure that they are connected. I wish I could get my hands on the evidence that the FBI has, so we could see if Kort's case is related too. I really want to run it to my evidence here. Gibbs, could you talk to Fornell about that, and see what he can do? Oh, Fornell, you're here. I need to compare the DNA and prints on the shell casings from Kort's case to see if they match our other shooting cases. You know, Tony, Ziva, Jen, and me."

"I'll get on that, Abby," he said quietly. "All four cases match?"

"Every single shell casing came from the same person and the same two guns. Either a sniper rifle or a hand gun, depending on who you ask. The hand gun, I am guessing is a semi-automatic weapon. You can fire one round or a hundred and it all works well. We don't have a match in the system. Gibbs, I need Vance's permission to hack a few databases to see what we can get."

"Good work, Abs. I'll get that done now and I'll get down to your lab with your Caf-Pow in a few minutes," he said quietly.

There was a snore and everyone saw the Ziva was asleep at her desk again. Tony chuckled and Gibbs rolled his eyes but everyone else looked confused. Jen had a comment to make, as usual.

"Perhaps you two should get more sleep at night and stop engaging in so many extracurricular activities," she said quietly.

"You don't see me sleeping at my desk!" Tony argued. "I'll only give them up when she wants to, thanks! You try getting a former Mossad Officer to agree to that!"

Jen laughed now. Fornell was shaking his head.

"So, they did do that last night?" he asked.

"Yes. I was in the room right above them. Kept me up half the night. Bet they kept Jenny and Dad up, too," Jen said.

"They could have been pretending to keep you all in the dark," Fornell said. "Wouldn't be the first time they've pretended and made it convincing."

"Oh, they weren't pretending," Gibbs said as he came back down the stairs. "I know this because otherwise they would not have been late to dinner and yesterday they would not have been late enough to work to get caught in the mess they did, unless someone was scouting the building for a while. Besides, I can only think of a very few things that Tony would give up food for. Ziva just happens to be one of those very few things. The other things are things he could be doing with Ziva."

Half the squad room laughed about this, even agents that weren't on their team. Fornell frowned. He did not have the evidence he wanted and he did not have anything conflicting in anything he was hearing. They were really married for real. He wondered if Parsons would see it that way or if he would think they were just really good at acting.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N – Chapter 10! We're getting somewhere today with this story! But, we're not going very far, I guess.

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Gibbs awoke, again, to the sound of Ziva throwing up in the bathroom. He sighed heavily. There was nothing he could do to help the poor thing. She seemed to have a very bad case of morning sickness. As a matter of fact, he was rather surprised that Jenny was sleeping through all that! The walls were not exactly sound-proof!

The other agents were now coming down the stairs. Trent Kort would be joining them in the safe-house tonight, which made things a little worse for everyone. Abby looked around, confused for a moment.

"Where are they Gibbs?" she asked. "Tony and Ziva are always the first ones to breakfast. Oo! Did they get caught up again?"

"Don't think so, Abby," he said with a slight smile on his face. "We would know about it if they did. We can hear everything down here. Got to give them props though, they're trying to keep quiet."

"Trying and failing," Jenny said quietly still lying with her eyes closed on the couch.

Everyone was startled by her voice. They turned around to look at her. They had all thought she was asleep.

"Which one of them is spilling their guts?" she asked, still without opening her eyes. "By the way, I can breathe today, but I do feel like I've been hit by a bus."

"That's good and bad," Gibbs said without answering her other question.

"You ignored my question," she pointed out with a sigh.

"Don't know," he said simply with a shrug. "Hope whoever it is, is well enough to work."

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Ziva was sitting on the floor, curled in a ball, with Tony next to her. She was too afraid to leave the bathroom at this point. She had been in there since four in the morning. She was dry heaving now and that was all. She really needed water. Tony looked a little scared. He had joined her in the bathroom and sat by her side and held her hair when she needed it.

"You okay?" he asked, looking at a pale Ziva.

"I am thirsty," she said quietly. "And hungry. But, what the hell do I eat to change this?"

"I have no idea. Toast. Crackers," he suggested logically.

"I will eat toast then," she said quietly, allowing Tony to help her up. She swayed a little on the spot and Tony steadied her.

"Perhaps we ought to have you call out today," he suggested handing her the crutches that she had left leaning against the wall of the bathroom.

"It's not like it's going to get any better any time soon, Tony," Ziva stated quietly. "I am only seven weeks along. I still have at least another five of this to go, maybe six."

He frowned. Then, he pulled Ziva into a hug. She accepted his hug and held herself tightly there. Morning sickness, they both thought. Only if it was just mornings! More like whole-day sickness!

"Come on," he said quietly as he led her from the bathroom.

The others were already out in the kitchen area. Abby had made omelets. Ziva took one look at them and made a face and turned to Tony. He nodded in understanding and had her sit down with the others.

"I guess that answers my question from earlier," Jenny said quietly. "You look like hell, Ziva. You coming down with something?"

"Probably," she whispered quietly and put her head down on the table, already exhausted from her interrupted sleep and not falling asleep so easily last night.

"Omelet, Ziva?" Abby asked.

She shook her head, looking a little green along with her pale coloring, which looked so out of place on her cheeks.

"Toast," she muttered, almost whined.

Everyone gave her a very curious look. Ziva turning down omelets was curious enough, but whining was a whole other matter. Their curious looks went unanswered as Abby handed her some toast.

"Jenny's right, you look awful," Abby said sympathetically.

"Thanks," Ziva said sarcastically. "Can none of you be nice just to spare me a little?"

There were tears in her eyes as she said this, causing them all to look a little more curious. This was so far from normal Ziva that they were genuinely confused.

"You need to call it a day already, Ziva?" Gibbs asked. "If you want, you can stay here. FBI will be here all day. I can leave Tony here too, so there's an agent inside that is unharmed."

"I'll be fine, Gibbs," Ziva said quietly, taking the smallest of nibbles from her toast and making a face at it. Nothing was appealing to her right now. She was starving and loosing weight and unhappy about it. She was supposed to be busy getting fat, not skinnier.

"Okay," he said, giving her a look, to which she nodded. "Cars leave in twenty minutes. I expect everyone to be in them."

They scattered and got dressed. However, they were delayed again, by Ziva getting sick. Everyone winced as they heard the sound of it while they waited. Gibbs looked as though he were in pain from it and Jen looked positively confused by it. Ziva never got sick. This was something entirely new to all of them. Except that Gibbs looked like he knew what was going on with her, which was so strange.

They loaded into the cars and got on their way. When they arrived, Vance was waiting in the squad room for them.

"I need Tony DiNozzo, Ziva DiNozzo, and Jennifer Gibbs upstairs in my office now," he said. "Gibbs, call A.J. Chegwidden. We have a minor issue."

"What's the issue?" he asked.

"Parsons," Vance said with a grimace on his face. "He's here to question our people, again. Poking his nose in where it doesn't belong. Fornell is here with him. I'm assuming Fornell gave him the reports."

"I should have stayed home today," Ziva whined. "What are the chances that Parsons will allow me to run out when I do not feel well."

"Slim to none, Zi," Tony whispered in her ear.

Everyone shot a look to these two, who were oddly closer than normal for office behavior and oddly quieter than normal. They were used to light banters and bouts of flirting, but this was something new entirely. Ziva put her head down on Tony's shoulder as they got into the elevator with Jen Gibbs, who was staring at Ziva with curiosity, though now was obviously not the time to ask her anything.

They got up on the catwalk and Ziva looked positively green. She nodded toward the bathroom and Tony got the door for her.

"Tell him we'll be in a moment, but Ziva isn't feeling well," Tony said as he followed her into the bathroom.

Jen continued walking, while shaking her head to clear it of the confusion she was feeling. This just wasn't Ziva. She never got sick. Never. That was how things were. Ziva's immune system was like Super Man's, except Kryptonite was not her weakness. Jen didn't know what it was, but she had obviously encountered it.

She walked into Vance's office to find Parsons sitting in one of the chairs. She pulled hers out with one arm and sat down.

"Where are the other two?" he asked.

"Ziva's in the bathroom. She isn't feeling well this morning," Jen said, using Tony's words. "They'll be in, in just a moment."

He nodded and waited. They only waited a few minutes and then Ziva and Tony were walking in, hand-in-hand and Tony pulled out her chair for her and they sat down. Ziva looked a little better this time. Jen looked even more confused. She threw up and felt better. Though she looked exhausted.

"We're not talking until our lawyer is here," Tony said quietly.

Ziva put her head down on the conference room table and fell asleep that way. Tony left his hand on her back, so that way when it was time to wake her up he wouldn't startle her. Parsons sat watching the two as Tony sat staring at Ziva with a loving expression and Jen watched her two coworkers with awe and confusion.

Finally, the door opened and Chegwidden walked in, with two that they had never met before. A man and a woman standing next to each other on Chegwidden's left side. They came in and sat across from the three NCIS agents.

"Parsons, this is Captain Harmon Rabb and Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie," Chegwidden said. "They've been updated. They are joining me in the defense of these three. We need a few minutes to speak to our clients."

"A team of lawyers. Interesting," Parsons said making a note and stepping out of the office with a smirk on his face.

"Is she sleeping, DiNozzo?" Chegwidden asked Tony curiously.

"Ziva?" Tony said lightly in her ear.

She stirred. "Sorry. What did I miss?"

"Harm," said the man.

"Mac," said the woman.

"They worked with me at the JAG Corps," Chegwidden said. "They are two of the best. They are joining me in your defense. Agent Fornell tells us that things are looking up for you two. Either, you've collaborated your stories really well, or you two honestly love each other."

"Duh!" Ziva said, slapping her forehead as though this were obvious. It was so far from normal Ziva that even Chegwidden looked confused. He had heard and seen enough of her to know that this was not normal behavior for her.

"Anyway," he said. "If there are any surprises that we need to know about, now is the time to tell us. Jen, you first."

"None, told you my entire history from start to finish," Jen said quietly.

"Ziva?"

"I'm sure there's nothing you haven't heard already," she said quietly.

"The thing with your half-brother?"

"Was when I was an Israeli citizen," she said darkly. "He already brought that up and I already told you what really happened, despite what the report says."

"DiNozzo?"

"Which one," Ziva said narrowing her eyes.

"Tony," he sighed out heavily. "Any secrets?"

"Nope," he said quietly. "You already know why I went to Somalia. That was the biggest secret."

"I think I'm starting to believe it too, based on Fornell's reports. Okay, here is what we know, Sarah, do the honors and take over," Chegwidden said.

"I have dealt with Parsons in the past and I have done extensive research on the man. He was not always called Richard Parsons. His given name at birth was Richard Johnson. Why he changed his last name we can only guess at, at this point. We stopped downstairs to get background on his former name. You should have that by the end of today or tomorrow at the latest. Now, Parsons is a weasel. He's going to milk this for all it's worth. He knows that Gibbs has cleared his own name and he knows that you all helped him with something. He also knows that Jen is pregnant and Isaac is MIA. He knows that you two are married, but refused to believe that it's real. He knows that something is going on throughout your MCRT. He knows that two of you have been shot and two others have been shot at. He knows that whatever you did over the summer involved the CIA, and that doesn't look good to him. Perhaps you could tell us what happened?"

"Classified," Jen said immediately. "Can't talk about it. He can't dig it up and we can't talk about it."

"Great," Harm said quietly. "That doesn't look good. I know the rules of classified missions, but he's going to try to use that to his advantage, just so you're aware. Mrs. DiNozzo, is there a reason you look so green today?"

"Stomach bug," she said quietly.

"Good," Jen said. "That's just what I need to be around."

"Don't worry so much Jen," Ziva said quietly. "I do not think you will catch this stomach bug. You don't get sick."

"Neither do you, Ziva, and look at you! You are the perfect shade of green right now. I think you match Tony's tie!" Jen said with a lightness and a darkness to her looks. "Can we just get Parsons in here and get this over with?"

"Sure thing," Chegwidden said quietly as he got up and called to Parsons like a dog.

A moment later the door opened with Parsons and Fornell entering along with Vance and the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

"Okay. I'm here about the cases that have gone wrong," Parsons said. "International espionage is a serious crime for a Federal Agent. You are all accused with it from the time you were in Berlin. Now, I need to know what happened in Berlin."

"We went, we found Bodnar and we arrested him and came home," Ziva said quietly.

"You had contact with Adam Eschel during that time?" he asked.

Ziva flinched and so did Tony. "Yes, we did," Tony said. "He gave us some information on the whereabouts of Bodnar and what he knew. We work with Mossad often to help with our international cases that involve Israel or any of their suspects. It is a wonderful partnership between the two agencies."

"You contacted Eschel?" Parsons asked.

"No, I did," Ziva said, swaying slightly in her seat as everyone looked at her curiously. "Does anyone have crackers, before I vomit on the table?"

Tony pulled some crackers out of his pocket. Ziva looked at him appreciatively and then returned her gaze to Parsons.

"I'm told that Jennifer Gibbs has immunity on that, so Jennifer, you are free to go from here. But we will talk about the summer at some point. Right now there are a few questions I have for these two," he said quietly.

Jen got up and left the amusement she was going to have for the day.

"Now, you were in contact with Adam Eschel during the time of your mission, yet you slept together on that mission?" he asked them.

"After the arrest," Tony said. "Our job was done and he was in the American Embassy at the time and in safe hands. Our work life and our personal lives do not mingle and did not that day either, if that is what you are asking."

"That was not what I was asking. I was just confused by that. With her so clearly wanting Adam and all."

"That situation is not at all what you seem to think it is," Ziva said quietly, in an almost mousey tone. Everyone looked at her. She had not even told Tony that secret, though she had told Chegwidden when he first took over for their case against Parsons. Chegwidden had filled in Harm and Mac to the best of his ability, based on what he had seen with these two.

"Then, tell, me, Mrs. DiNozzo, what is it?" he asked.

"Not what you seem to think it is," she repeated. "I really do not wish to talk about it further. Speak to my lawyer. He can tell you."

"Okay. I see you two got married and have had plenty of time to coordinate your stories. I want you to know, I will break you," he said quietly. "I have every intention of doing so as soon as we are done with the basic questions."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N – okay, we're finishing the thing with Parsons, for today. I really do enjoy making Parsons angry I think. He is such a shady character and it is fun to make him angry. We also have a Tony, Ziva, and Gibbs moment at the end that I rather enjoyed! Hope you enjoy it all as well!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Thursday, October 24, 2013

"Tell me how you discovered that it was Yaniv Bodnar that you were after and not Ilan Bodnar and under what suspicion did you arrest him?" Parsons asked.

"Excuse me," Ziva said, grabbing her crutches and leaving the room.

Tony ran out after her, as she made her way toward the bathroom. He got the door for her and heard that she only just barely made it to the toilet before everything came back up. She left the stall, looking better again and washed her face, hands, and mouth in the sink. She used a paper towel offered to her by Tony to dry off. There were tears in her eyes.

"This is difficult," she whispered.

"I know," he said honestly. "You look better."

"I do feel better. But that is what happens at this time of the morning. I feel like I could eat a horse," Ziva said quietly.

"I am sure Vance has something to eat in his office. We could always have his assistant make you a bagel or something," Tony said.

"A bagel sounds delicious," Ziva said.

They made their way back toward the director's office and grabbed a bagel from the secretary and walked back in with it and sat down in front of Parsons again.

"You dare to get up and leave for food in the middle of an interrogation?" he asked.

"She's sick," Chegwidden said. "And looks a little better. Bagel is a good choice. Light on the stomach, but filling if you're hungry too."

"Now, the question," Parsons said.

"We expected Ilan Bodnar, it's true. When we found that it was Yaniv that was involved with dealing the diamonds he told us that he was there on behalf of his brother. It is all recorded and in our file. The arrest was clean," Tony said quietly to Parsons. "I'm sure you've already looked that over, right?"

"No," he said, his eyes widening. "I have not looked at any of the reports from Berlin, because the mission was espionage."

"It was clean," Harm said. "I read those files. You should read it too. Or do you intend to break our clients now?"

"I intend to break them now, then I will read," Parsons said. "When did you two begin your relationship?"

"May," Tony said.

"You weren't in a relationship before?"

"No," Ziva said, taking another bite of her bagel and looking a lot better.

"But you slept together in Berlin?" he asked.

"Yes," Tony answered.

"How come that didn't start your relationship?"

"We used to have problems communicating effectively," Ziva admitted. "And we were in a car crash, which is also reported in the file. We were crashed into by Ilan Bodnar who then stole the diamonds from us. That is all reported."

"Why during the summer?"

"We love each other," Tony said sincerely. "So, why not give it a shot when we were unemployed?"

"Why not?" Parsons asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Why did you get married so early?"

"We've known each other forever," Ziva said honestly. "We already knew everything there was to know about each other. And we are in love and the timing was right."

"Timing was right. Was it also convenient that you chose to get married right after I made it public that there were international espionage charges against each of you to which you were both the only witness against each other?" Parsons asked.

"Coincidence," Tony said.

"I thought you didn't believe in coincidences?" Parsons asked.

"Normally, I wouldn't. But, I had been planning most of the summer to propose to her," Tony said. "Had to do it when the time was right. Then we rushed into a marriage. We decided we didn't want to wait."

"You didn't do this to save each other's asses?" Parsons asked.

"We did it because we love each other," Ziva clarified.

"Would you do that to save each other?"

"It's already done, so we couldn't possibly do it to save each other," Tony responded smartly.

"What lengths would you go to DiNozzo to save Ziva? I see that once you created a mission halfway around the world to bring her home safely," Parsons mentioned.

"Is my entire career in question?" he asked.

"Yes," Parsons shouted at him. "The entire thing is being brought up, because obviously your personal feelings are interfering with work. She probably never would have gotten shot if it wasn't for you!"

"Actually," Ziva said with a smile on her face. "If it wasn't for his concern and need to get me sitting in a safer area, he also would have gotten shot and killed. The bullet would have gone through his head. Tony always has my back when we are the field and we are able to keep the personal feelings down when we are working. We weren't working at the time that happened."

Parsons nodded. "Who can agree to that?"

"Any of the team," Tony said. "Go, ask them, but leave us alone and stop questioning our relationship. It's real. If you don't like it, that's too bad. We're not getting a divorce because you don't like it. We made our vows and we fully intend to keep them until the end of time, and even after that if it's possible."

"Ziva?"

"I will _never_ disobey Tony," she said shooting Parsons a glare. "Never. I will have his back when I'm at work, but not at the expense of the others, if that's the case."

"Fine," Parsons said, in a tantrum-like manner and got up, leaving the office.

Tony and Ziva sat there for a few minutes with the lawyers in silence. Then A.J. nodded to the other two, who got up and left. A.J. sat there looking at the two of them as they got lost in each other's eyes.

"What is going on that we don't know about?" A.J. asked them.

They looked at each other.

"Confidentially. I can't tell him and he can't pry it out of me. But, if its something on the medical record, he is bound to find it sooner or later. He's as curious about this stomach bug as anyone else is. What's going on?"

Tony and Ziva continued to look into each other's eyes. Ziva nodded to Tony and then they both turned their gaze to Chegwidden.

"Ziva's pregnant," Tony said quietly.

"What? Who's the father?"

"I am, you idiot," Tony said angrily.

"Sorry. Automatic question. You two are happy about this?" he asked.

"Thrilled when I'm not exploding into a toilet," Ziva said with a smile on her face. "I am looking forward to having a family."

A.J. smiled as he saw the emotions running across both of the agent's faces. "Then, congratulations. But, Parsons won't know what to make of that. He'll want a paternity test when it finally does come out."

"Then he will have to order one," Tony said. "I know that's my child. I know it and she knows it. We're not going to pay for one, because it will look suspicious. But, if he gets a court ordered one, I'm not going to refuse. I'm sure."

"As am I," Ziva said, reinforcing what Tony was saying. "Can we get back to work now?"

"Yes, of course," Chegwidden said and smiled at the two and left the office.

Vance came in as they were getting up and throwing out Ziva's garbage from her bagel. He chuckled a little.

"I see you helped yourself to one of my bagels," he commented. "You look better, David."

"Last name is DiNozzo now," she reminded him lightly.

"It'll take me some time to get used to," he mentioned to her. "But, I'll get there, I promise. You look like you are feeling better."

"I am," she said. "Perhaps it was a twenty four hour bug. Or perhaps there is more in store for me for later. Right now, I'm going to eat while my stomach is happy."

"Good thinking, DiNozzo," he said with a smile on his face as he could finally see how happy the two agents were being married to each other and quietly wondering why they hadn't decided to do this sooner.

They quietly made their way into the squad room, where the others were working on finding information on Parsons former name and any information they could find on Adam Eschel and his whereabouts before Parsons could find him. Ziva had a sinking feeling. She remembered that Adam, when he did kill, preferred to be more of an invisible killer, and use a sniper rifle or something else that did not put him face to face with his victims.

"See if you can run the prints against Adam Eschel in the system," she said out loud around lunch time.

"What?"

"He likes impersonal attacks," Ziva said. "I just remembered that from my Mossad days. He was still in Mossad. He didn't like to kill, but when he had to he used impersonal attacks and he was not the best aim in the world. See if you can run the prints from the casings against him. We may need Director Vance to ask permission to log into Mossad's database for his prints."

"Everyone go get lunch, I'll get on that right after," Gibbs said. "Stay in the Navy Yard. If he likes impersonal attacks then, DC is just the right area for him. And with one on crutches and another in a sling I don't need more of my team down. I would personally prefer that you all stay here for lunch, but if you need some fresh air, I understand. We've all been cooped up together for too long already. DiNozzo and DiNozzo, stay a moment."

The others filed out and the two DiNozzos approached his desk.

"Shannon had bad sickness during the first trimester. Only thing she could eat were bagels. I suggest trying that. Crackers and toast were a little relief to her. Make sure you eat small meals frequently to help keep your stomach settled. If that means you need shorter breaks more frequently, take them," Gibbs said to the two seriously. "I'll do whatever I can to help, now that I see that Ziva has not been to a bathroom for that reason in nearly three hours."

"Thanks, boss," Tony said.

"Thank you, Gibbs," Ziva said quietly.

"When are you planning on sharing the news with the others?"

"Beginning of the second trimester," Tony said. "With her history, she says that she may not keep it. We've got an appointment tomorrow at noon. Chegwidden knows too."

"I'll be your agent escort to the appointment," Gibbs said with a protective look in his eyes. "If you wish to keep it a secret for now then I wish to help in whatever way I can, which means keeping other agents out of your business, right?"

"Yes," Ziva said quietly. "Gibbs, has there been any word on Isaac yet?"

"No, not yet, Ziva," Gibbs said. "We've got the entire agency looking for him and we've got Mossad on it. As soon as we try these prints then we will see what is going on. I hope you are wrong about Adam, for the simple fact that I know he was a friend to you."

"Not anymore, Gibbs," Ziva said. "We have not been friends since January."

"What did he do, Ziva?" Tony asked quietly.

Ziva turned to face him, her eyes wide with concern. She closed her eyes and Tony placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You know I won't run, right? You know I'm not leaving you no matter what it is, right? I'm here, Ziva. You can tell me anything," Tony whispered.

"He took advantage of someone in a weak state," Ziva explained slowly. "He took me out for drinks, telling me that it would help me cope. I believed him because he was a friend of mine. I wasn't entirely sure about what happened until I got back to the states. He drugged me and took advantage of me. I had Ducky do the kit. There is a file in his office of what happened. I intend to read it and give it to Gibbs to sign, then give it to Parsons. That right there could drop the espionage charges."

Tony pulled her into a hug, knowing that she was not upset over it anymore, but finally understanding why she had reacted so strongly when someone had pushed her about it. That was what Ziva did when someone pushed. She pulled away and closed up, acting defensively.

"Did Ducky help you?"

"There was no need for it, Tony," Ziva whispered. "I was mostly fine. I was just angry. I am not angry anymore. I just want this whole thing to go away. If that means I have to talk about what I do not remember, then so be it. I will find a way to remember. The evidence is there and I will use it. I had gotten the evidence because I did not believe my own suspicion. It was my last act as his friend to not bring charges against him. But, he is not a friend anymore."

"Let's go eat," Tony said with a nod in understanding.

"The way you two understand each other amazes me," Gibbs said, causing both of them to turn around again. "It reminds me of how Shannon and I were. We knew each other for a long time before starting anything, too. Then, we got married quickly as well. And had a baby soon after that."

Ziva smiled at him and then left with Tony for lunch.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N – Another chapter for my readers. I guess this is going to be a story filled with consequences for all kinds of people. With that said, read on!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Friday, October 25, 2013

The team had found nothing so far. The prints were still running through all databases and they still didn't have permission from Mossad to enter their database. They were unconcerned for NCIS, even the three of them who were former Mossad Officers. They suspected that NCIS was involved with the killing of Orli Elbaz, though they were already sick of her. Ziva's head was aching today, but her stomach had been better so far, thanks to Gibbs' advice for her. Apparently what had worked for Shannon had also worked for her. She was happy about that and so was Tony.

Gibbs was going to let them go at lunchtime. He told them all to have a long weekend, already knowing that their weekend was going to be spent in a safe-house while the crazy person was on the loose. Before Tony and Ziva left though, they wanted to go down to see Ducky. Gibbs decided to stay behind too, to not overcrowd the other car with people. Ducky, Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva would take the car back to the safe-house together.

The elevator opened and Ziva crutched out. Tony had a hand on her back and led her toward the Autopsy room where Ducky was. He was reading a book at the time. Honestly, they were all a little surprised that there were just no cases so far, considering the timing of it all. They would never have thought twice about it, except that they were in the middle of a huge case right now, involving all of them. There just seemed to be no criminal activity involving Marines of Naval Officers at that moment. It was too much to hope for a coincidence.

Ducky saw them coming and put the book down, smiling at the sight of the happy young agents in front of him, though it pained him to know that they were all still in danger. Ziva's crutches were the most recent reminder of that.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. DiNozzo," he said with a smile. "I could tell so many stories about the two of you alone."

"Thank you, Ducky," Ziva said quietly. "I am here for that file that I had you save. It is time for the truth to come out at last. I must have Gibbs sign it and I must have it get to Director Vance and Parsons, as well as my lawyers, who know the circumstance. Tony and I paid them a visit this morning to talk with them about my idea of getting the file going."

"That is a great idea, Ziva, dear," Ducky said as he rushed around to go get the file he had on her. He came back a moment later with the manila folder. "Our Ziva put up one hell of a fight, despite the amount of drugs that were in her system. They were still present when she returned home after the thirteen hour flight and she had been given them the night before her flight. It is miraculous that she did not overdose."

Tony glanced sideways at Ziva. She shrugged. "I did not know that," Ziva said quietly. "How come you did not tell me that."

"Because you told me to tell you nothing of it until you asked for the file, my dear," Ducky said. "The drugs which Adam Eschel used on you, Ziva, are the kind that make you completely honest and forget what you said. I think you knew that you had to come to terms with it on your own."

"I remember coming here and having you do the tests. I just don't remember ever saying that to you," Ziva said.

"There were still enough drugs in your system to affect your memory of that time period. I know that much by reading the file," Ducky said. "But, sadly, I knew that night, too, when you called me that something was wrong. You, my Ziva, are like a niece or a granddaughter, so therefore, I feel it is my need to protect you and you were so distraught that I had to come to your aid when you called," Ducky explained.

"Thank you, Ducky," Ziva said again, taking the manila envelope from him and crutching back toward the elevator with Ducky in toe to see how this went.

They were silent in the elevator and Ducky watched the two as Ziva yawned, which was something that was far from normal for Ziva. He shook his head and said nothing, though he was starting to get suspicious that something was up with her lately. Yesterday she was sick, today she was tired in the middle of the day. It was weird.

The elevator opened and they all exited slowly together to find Gibbs sitting at his desk. Ziva stopped and handed him the manila folder. He looked up at her and nodded.

"Everything is dated appropriately and the DNA was already taken and run," Ziva said quietly. "It was something I asked Ducky to do for me, even though I was not pressing charges. If that is what I have to do now, I will. I know that the statute of limitations is not up on it yet."

"It is something you have to do if you're handing me this file, Ziva," Gibbs said quietly. "I'll read through it quickly and sign it now. Then, I'll leave it on Vance's desk. I'll meet you in the car. And, Ziva, don't forget, take it a little easy. I know you were quite active this morning."

"I'm sorry, Gibbs. I'm so used to being active," Ziva said quietly.

Tony nodded to Gibbs and so did Ziva. They both remembered the conversation in the car after her appointment that morning. Her doctor was concerned that losing the baby was a possibility and she wanted Ziva to take it easy until the second trimester. Ziva was all for doing that when there was an innocent child involved that had no say in the matter. Tony and Gibbs could both see that she was turning into a great mother, already. But, she was having a hard time taking it easy with where she worked and how much was involved with that, which was another reason that Gibbs had let them go early that morning.

"I'll meet you three downstairs. Don't go toward the car without me, since there is only one of you able to defend yourselves out there," Gibbs said with another nod.

He walked up the stairs as the others made their way to the elevator. Ducky was still watching them, wondering what was so different from a few weeks ago. Ziva put her head on Tony's shoulder and Ducky made a mental note to keep his eyes on them. But, he wasn't going to ask yet what was going on. Apparently whatever it was, Gibbs was in on it.

When the elevator opened, Ziva picked up her head and they continued out of the elevator. A few moments later, Gibbs came down, shaking his head.

"Vance is not happy that you kept this from him," he said. "He'll want to talk to you on Monday."

"Wonderful," Ziva said with another yawn and they all went to the car.

* * *

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Ziva, Tony, Jen, and Gibbs were standing in the elevator on their way down to Abby's lab. Abby had called them down. She was disappointed in Gibbs' radar. Vance had approved the hacking into Mossad's database. Ziva was bouncing on her toe that was on the ground and Jen was wringing her hands nervously at her side, since her atm was still in a sling. Tony was clutching Ziva's back and Gibbs was leaning against the wall of the elevator. Abby had news for the four of them and it could be good or bad.

The ding of the elevator told them it was time to move and they did, automatically. They went straight into her lab. Gibbs already had a Caf-Pow in hand as he walked through the doors. Ziva was looking straight at her.

"Okay, so I ran the fingerprints against those in Mossad's database. It wasn't even close to a match to Adam. It didn't match anyone else in Mossad's database," Abby said to them, frowning at herself.

"Well, I guess that's good and bad," Tony said. "That means that Eschel is not trying to take out our entire team. But it also means that we still have no idea who is trying to."

"I might," Gibbs said. "Did you run the print through Interpol?"

"No," Abby said. "I didn't. Not yet. You got me on this Mossad thing and I didn't use Interpol, why?"

"Run it, Abs. Just a hunch," Gibbs said quietly. "Any word on Isaac David? I know you've been searching for him."

"Nothing yet," Abby said and wrung her hands together a little with something more to say. "Ziva, you had a phone call down here. It was a number from Israel. It was in the middle of the night and there was no message. I only know it was for you, because the number was from Israel. Maybe it wasn't. But, I think it would be best if you were the one to call it. It's a cell phone, but I don't know who it belongs to."

Abby handed her the number and Ziva nodded, turning and handing it to Tony. "I will call from an observation room," Ziva said. "Something tells me that this call does not want to be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes."

Tony chuckled. They had switched their bank accounts and their credit cards so that everything was in both names over the weekend and they were sick of hearing "this call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes."

They re-entered the elevator and continued on up to the main floor. Tony and Ziva made their slow way toward the interrogation rooms while Jen and Gibbs went back to the main area. Ziva dialed the number from an observation room with the phone on speaker as she waited for it to finish ringing in hopes that someone would answer the call.

"Hello?" answered the person and Ziva jumped a little.

"Adam?" Ziva asked.

"You got my phone call! I did not know if you would," he said through the phone. "I did not know if that forensic scientist would be able to process the Israeli number at all. It is a burner phone. I have been waiting for you to return my call. I need your help and NCIS's too, if they can offer it."

Ziva looked at Tony and Tony nodded to her.

"I guess that depends on what you need help with, Adam," Ziva said in a tone that was neutral.

"Well, there is a couple things. First, I know that there is someone after your whole team, though I do not know who. Second, I knew that you were all after someone dangerous over the summer and there are consequences to be had now. Third, I know that someone is investigating you for international espionage and I want to help with that, even if that means I take the fall for what I did to you in January.

"On that note, I am sorry for what I did to you in January. I am truly sorry. Fourth, I know that Isaac David is missing and I have been searching for him myself, since he was a dear friend growing up. And, fifth, whoever is causing you trouble is also causing me trouble. Mossad has been monitoring all your searches, including the one on me. My own informant told me that my fingerprints were scanned through NCIS hacking into Mossad's intelligence. I know that whoever you are looking for has also tried to take me out as well and probably knows more than they are letting onto anyone at this point. I want to help, but I also need your help, even if that means that I have to spend many years in an American prison for doing so. Ziva, please! Can we meet at a safe location? Do you know a safe location?"

"Let me talk to Agent Gibbs, Adam," Ziva said into the phone automatically. "Is it okay to call you on this number?"

"Yes. But, let me call you in five hours. Can you get an answer in that time? It is better if I call you, so I know I am in a safe location where a conversation cannot be listened to," Adam said into the phone.

"Do you have information?"

"I have a hunch," Adam said.

"I will talk to you later then," Ziva said quietly and hung up the phone.

She pinched her nose with her fingers and lowered her head a little. Adam was the last person she wanted to deal with. When she looked up Tony's eyes were a little wild. Ziva moved herself closer to him, knowing that he was not happy about this.

"Tony?" Ziva questioned.

"I don't like this," he said quietly.

"You will have my back the whole time, yes?" Ziva asked. "I want you by my side the whole step of this thing. Especially if we are going to involve someone such as him. He has tricked me before and I need someone else there to make sure that my judgment is sound."

Tony's eyes widened. Ziva was asking for help. That was unheard of. He nodded eagerly, knowing that opportunities like this never came along. "Let's go talk to Gibbs."

They left the observation room and went into the squad room. They arrived in front of Gibbs' desk a few moments later and he looked up another moment after that.

"The number was that of Adam Eschel," Ziva said coldly. "He wants our help and thinks he has information for us to help with our cases. How he knows about our cases, well, I don't know who his contact is, but I need permission to do this, since this would also fall under international espionage. And he is willing to face whatever charges are filed against us, not only to gain our help but to give his help. He wants to meet at a safe location."

"The safe house," Gibbs said. "It'll just be you, me, DiNozzo, and Jen there. I'll keep the others at NCIS for that time. When he calls again, you tell him that and tell him to give you the time and date for it."

"I will do that, Gibbs," Ziva said and sighed. She sat down and rested her head on her desk, her eyes sliding closed.

"Is she sleeping at night?" Jen asked someone.

Ziva was still conscious. She opened her eyes and looked at Jen. Jen looked worried and was staring at her. "Yes," Ziva said quietly and then rested her head on her desk one more time.

"Why are you so tired, then?" Jen asked.

Ziva's shoulders shrugged as she yawned. Then, Gibbs spoke up. "Leave the girl alone. She obviously needs to rest."

And with that, everyone left Ziva alone to sleep on her desk.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N – Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I have been busy purchasing a new car, so I've been everywhere except for home on my computer for a while. Thank you for your patience! Here is the next chapter for you.

Disclaimer – same as always, I don't own NCIS or the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Tuesday October 29, 2013

"David!" Vance's voice shouted, causing Ziva to jump. But, she kept her head on her desk, not wanting to be awake.

"Last name's DiNozzo," she said sleepily, putting a hand up to her eyes and rubbing them gently.

"Get up here, we need to talk," Vance said harshly.

Ziva sat up instantly and grabbed her head. It was pounding. She closed her eyes for a second and Tony was near her desk, looking at her. His eyebrows were raised, obviously asking if she was okay.

"Just a headache, Tony. Perfectly normal," she whispered to him and stood up.

He nodded and she crutched herself to the elevator to make her way up to Vance's office. When she entered he was looking at her sharply. He indicated the chair, his harsh expression faltering at the sight of one of his best agents on crutches because of an attack that they couldn't figure out.

"Why didn't you ever mention this thing about Adam Eschel? And why are you meeting with him over the weekend? Will you be safe? Who will be near you?" Vance asked, concern entering his expression as he continued to ask questions.

"I did not mention it because I did not realize exactly what it was at the time," Ziva explained. "When I finally remembered that I had gone to Ducky I asked him what his findings were and decided, as my last act as his friend that I would not press charges against him. If charges need to be filed now that is fine by me. I am okay with him getting the justice he deserves.

"I am meeting him over the weekend because he has information that we might need. After that we will bring him in. He has already agreed to that. He knows he deserves justice," Ziva continued. "I will be safe. Gibbs, Tony, and Jen will be there. They will have my back. Despite what you may think by looking at me on crutches and Jen with only one arm, we are both more than capable of taking care of ourselves and our own while we are down a limb. Trust me, I have had to do it before and so has she. We were both members of Mossad for a long time before joining your agency."

"He has information that might help your case?" Vance asked. "How?"

"Because someone is after him as well," Ziva informed Vance. "That is all I know and all he is willing to say over a cell phone that is not strictly secured. I do not know if this has anything to do with Mossad or not, Vance, but obviously he fears that someone is hacking into our communications. Otherwise he would just tell me over the cell phone. He does not feel safe and he knows also that jail is a safe place for him, no matter how long he has to spend there for what he did to me."

"Now, I have another question. Why were you sleeping on your desk?" Vance asked.

"I was tired," Ziva told him casually. "I guess I am not getting the best sleep with this thing on my leg."

That was the excuse that she and Tony could come up with together without giving away their secret too soon. The doctor's appointment had gone very well. The OB/GYN had told them that everything looked good, but there was some scarring on the lining of her uterus that could make it difficult to carry through the first trimester. The doctor was not too worried about it, because everything looked great. But, Ziva was on restricted duty. Thankfully, it was unnecessary to tell Director Vance this, since her leg restricted her more than her pregnancy did.

"I guess that's all, then," Vance said. "Try to do your sleeping at home from now on and not in the office. Although, I guess if Gibbs is fine with it then so am I. You have never failed me. I just feel like there is something you're not telling me."

"I'm hiding nothing," Ziva lied easily.

Ziva had a few things going for her. She was a very good liar in most cases. There was only one person in the world that she absolutely could not lie to or in front of and he was not in the room with her. Ziva had never been able to lie to Tony well and now that they were married she just could not lie to Tony. She couldn't bring herself to do it and when she did think about it she had worse tells than a small child trying to lie. She also could not lie in front of Tony, simply because of the amount of trust they had for each other. That was why she found it odd that some still did not believe that their marriage was real.

"Okay. One more question. The other day, when Gibbs let you all go early. Why? He made sure that everyone else was piled into the other car. I watched it happen from up here. Why did he go with you and Tony? You went in a different direction than the others."

"Grocery shopping," Ziva said and that wasn't a total lie. They had gone grocery shopping together after Ziva's appointment so the others would not ask too many questions. It was an easy enough lie to tell, even in front of Tony, since it was also the truth.

"Right," Vance said, as though he hadn't thought of this before. He nodded to her and let her go with the lingering feeling that she was hiding something from him. He was never very good at reading Ziva, but something just seemed so off with her lately, even considering the fact that she was injured. There was something else that was off about her.

Ziva left his office and as she was making her way toward the elevator her phone began to ring and she made her way into the conference room just in time to answer the call, which was the same Israeli number that she had talked to earlier that day. She had not realized how long she slept on her desk. It had already been five hours.

"Hello again," Ziva said into the phone.

"Ziva. I don't have long," he said. "I am going to be on the way to DC very soon. I'm almost to the airport where I can get away. What's the plan?"

"You are coming here. We will talk at a safe location. I will _not_ be alone, though. You need to know that there will be three others with me," Ziva explained quietly. "Once you are in the United States you are to get a different cell phone. A burn phone we call them here. You know, one of those prepaid ones? Then you will text this number. We are meeting at the safe location on Friday at six for dinner and talk."

"Are you cooking? Your cooking is amazing," Adam said.

"No, Adam. I am on crutches and I will not be cooking," Ziva said. "Someone else will. But that information is secured information for the moment. We are not divulging secured information. I will text you the location when it is nearly time. You are not to use that burner cell phone for anything other than your contact with me, is that understood?"

"Yes, Ziva. Perfectly," Adam said, sounding as though he was smiling.

"And, only when it is necessary. Those two text messages are all you get unless you somehow become in trouble. We are only going to keep you safe until you have shared your information. Once that is done, you are going to be brought to NCIS by me and the other agents that will be accompanying us and you will be accused of the crimes you have committed against me."

"That's fine. I'm safer in an American jail anyway," Adam said. "By the way, how is that DiNozzo character?"

Ziva only laughed. "Text me when you are in America," Ziva said and hung up the phone as she placed it back inside her pocket and made her way to the elevator. She stopped at Gibbs' desk and looked at him.

"It is a go," she said quietly.

"Agreed to the terms?" Gibbs asked.

"All of them," Ziva stated and watched Gibbs' eyes widen in amusement. He knew all of the terms, of course. He knew them well, because he had helped to make the terms of Adam's demands to see Ziva and speak to her about whatever he had for information or gut feelings.

Ziva then looked to Tony and they both knew that this was going to be the easiest arrest that they had ever made and they probably would never have another arrest like it again. Someone who was coming to them to help them, in desperate need to help them, who had also done some wrong and was more than willing to take full responsibility for his actions, not just to save his own ass, but to save the rest of team Gibbs from whatever danger they had now.

Ziva sat at her desk and this time started going through her emails, noticing that the majority of it was spam mail.

"Okay, time to go," Gibbs said. "McGee, go get Abby. Jenny, go get Ducky. Jen, DiNozzo, and DiNozzo you're with me. Let's go."

They followed Gibbs into the elevator and halfway down he hit the emergency stop switch. He looked at the three agents, two of which were both injured and pregnant. He sighed.

"Okay, Friday we have a task," Gibbs said. "I needed to talk to you about this. The others are going to remain at NCIS that day. The four of us are going back to the safe house for dinner with Adam Eschel."

"Why?" Jen asked, narrowing her eyebrows.

"He has information, Jen," Gibbs said simply. "The meeting is approved and there are four of us there for a reason. I don't want this to turn into something reckless since two of my girls are there. We talk, we arrest, we bring him in. understood?"

"Got it, boss," Tony said immediately. Ziva nodded so did Jen.

They discussed details on the way home, at least as much details as they could discuss out without knowing what he knew. When they arrived Abby and Jenny were in the kitchen cooking a spectacular dinner that Ziva actually thought smelled good.

They all sat around the dinner table and Abby pulled out a bottle of wine and put a glass in front of everyone. She also had sparkling cider for Jen, though it was a large bottle. When Abby went to pour Ziva wine she put her hand over the glass and Tony mimicked her.

"Since when do you two turn down drinks?" Abby asked suspiciously.

"Since my stomach is still bothering me from that bug I had," Ziva said.

"Just not feeling in a partying kind of mood, Abby," Tony said.

"How come? That's so unusual?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Well, let's see. We have a case that we can't solve and by the way, it's not just a normal case. This is a case that involves my family! Ziva's already hurt, someone shot at you, Jen is hurt, someone shot at me and we're all living in a safe house. Not to mention that somehow Trent Kort is caught up in all this!" Tony nearly shouted and got up from the dinner table.

There were tears in Ziva's eyes at the hurt expression and tone Tony was holding, but she knew that he needed a minute. Everyone was staring at her, except for Abby.

"Well, normally you drink in this kind of circumstance! And you, too, Ziva! Normally you drink, too! Doesn't matter how you feel! You never get sick anyway, so why now? Why is all this happening?" Abby said and slammed the bottle of wine on the table, also leaving the room.

A tear rolled down Ziva's cheek as McGee got up to go talk to Abby. Ducky and Jen were watching her carefully. She said nothing. She allowed her tears to fall in front of her coworkers as she heard Abby shouting upstairs.

"No, Tim! It's not okay! Tony's right! Everything is messed up! We can't solve the one case that involves us! We're supposed to protect people and we can't even protect ourselves!"

"Abby, calm down! It'll be fine! We'll figure it out, we always do!" McGee replied.

The tears started flowing faster on Ziva's cheeks and she stood up and made her way toward the bedroom, but someone grabbed her arm gently and stopped her. She turned to see Jen there. Ziva didn't want to face Jen in the state she was in. So, she turned her face away from her and looked at the door.

"Ziva, are you crying?" Jen asked, sounding concerned.

"No," Ziva lied and tried to wiggle her arm free of the other woman's grip.

"Zi, you can always talk to me, you know that, right?" Jen asked.

"Not right now, I can't," Ziva said, telling the truth. Right now she didn't know why she was crying. What she normally would have done was rolled her eyes, but her hormones were getting in the way and causing her to cry in front of people who used to see her as emotionless. Now she was overly emotional. What would they think happened to Ziva to cause the tears?

She finally freed herself from Jen's grip and made her way into the bedroom, plopping herself down on the bed and allowing the tears to flow over her eyes. That was when Tony came out of the bathroom and noticed that Ziva was no longer sitting at the table and neither were Abby and McGee.

He knew where she was, but first he grabbed two plates of food and brought them into the bedroom.

"So much for family dinner," he said to Gibbs as he opened the door.

"Just take care of her, Tony," Gibbs said as the door closed behind him.

Tony saw Ziva sitting there. She was a big mush of tears and that was it. That was not the way he was used to seeing his ninja at all. That was not what he usually expected to see. He knew that she was quietly emotional, but seeing her mush into this was heartbreaking for him. He placed the plate of food on the side of the bed and kneeled down in front of her, moving her crutches out of his way. He looked up into her eyes before he spoke.

"I'm sorry it got out of hand," he said gently.

"It's not your fault, Tony. We are all stressed," she said through her tears and pulled him up to her and into a hug. "Thank you for dinner, by the way."

He nodded into her shoulder and they stayed there for a few minutes before eating dinner.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N – Sorry for the delay. Here's the chapter some have been waiting for!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters

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**Chapter 14**

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Gibbs was staring at the downstairs bedroom door. They were all waiting for Ziva. She hadn't come out for breakfast and no one had seen her since last night. Abby was panicking because she thought it was all her fault that Ziva was overly emotional and she was venting about it now. Tony was pacing. McGee was trying to calm Abby down. Jen was staring at the door, just like her father. Jenny was watching Tony closely and Ducky was just standing there waiting patiently.

"DiNozzo, go get her, we're going to be late," Gibbs said in a harsher tone than he meant to.

"Tony. Tell her I'm really sorry," Abby said. "Wait! How did our argument make Ziva cry anyway? What was with the waterworks last night?"

Tony shook his head and entered the bedroom without answering her question. He walked in to see Ziva curled up on the bed staring at the closed closet door ahead of her. She was hugging her knees and didn't look up to see Tony enter the room. She felt the bed depress as he joined her, wrapping an arm around her.

"We've got to go to work, sweet cheeks," he whispered to her, near her ear.

She finally tore her eyes away from the closet door and looked him in the eye.

"What am I going to say to them, Tony?" Ziva asked. "They know that I'm not like that normally. They know that I do not get sick and I certainly do not ever cry. How am I supposed to explain the reaction I had last night?"

"We blow it off like we normally do with difficult things to talk about, Ziva," Tony said. "Then at least you are giving them something that they will expect." Tony sighed heavily. "It will be alright, Zi. They're all going to understand it soon enough. After all, it's not like we're planning on hiding this forever, even if we could."

She nodded and wrapped her arms around Tony and hid her face in his chest. He could tell that there were more tears from the amount of stress she was feeling. He could feel the warmth of her tears through his shirt. His arms tightened around her and held her close for a moment. Then, he pulled her up off the bed and handed her the crutches she needed. This was difficult and he was feeling it too.

They crossed the room to the door and he pressed one quick kiss to the side of Ziva's head with a few choice words.

"No matter what happens when we go through that door, Zi, I've got your back," Tony promised. "You're what's important to me."

She smiled and kissed him as he opened the door and left the bedroom finally. She gave Gibbs a smile, seeing that he was nodding in understanding. Abby, however, crossed the room, escaping McGee's grasp just then.

"Let's go, before we're later than we already are," Gibbs said immediately, putting off whatever Abby had planned. They did need to get off toward work, though, before it was later than it already was. "Tony, Ziva, Jen, you're with me. Ducky, Abby, McGee, Jenny, take the other car."

They all filed out the door before anything more could be said and got into their cars. The ride to work was completely silent and Ziva and Tony were relieved when Gibbs finally parked outside the Navy Yard along with the other car. Everyone filed into the elevator.

They were all shocked when it was Abby that stopped the elevator. They were already late to work, so Gibbs did not argue. All eyes were on Abby, but Abby's eyes were focused only on Ziva and Tony huddled together in the farthest corner of the elevator from her.

"I'm sorry, Ziva," Abby said quietly. "I should not have flown off at Tony quite like that. I'm sorry I made you cry."

"There is nothing to be sorry for, Abby. We are all stressed right now," Ziva said.

"I know that. I mean with you one leg down and Jen with one arm down. I've been shot at, Tony's been shot at. We can't solve this thing. Of course everyone is stressed. But, Ziva… the tears?"

"Were stress related," Ziva said quickly and quietly before anyone else could question it or come up with their own speculation.

"Right," Abby said and Gibbs looked at her, urging her to be quiet as Gibbs reached around and turned the elevator back on.

It was silent as they continued their ride up. There were eyes on Ziva and Tony as well as on Abby. At least not all eyes were on either of them now. That was good for Ziva, who was feeling a little emotional and turned her head to face Tony's chest.

Once they got to their seats, they all noticed a note on their desks.

_**Trial set for Monday at 0900. Be early. Good luck.**_** Vance.**

Great! That was just what they all needed on top of everything that was piling up. Two injured and pregnant agents (one pregnancy was hidden). Two others having been shot at. A case they couldn't solve. Adam Eschel needing to talk to the agents on Friday. Isaac missing. Now a trial on top of it all. Ziva had tears in her eyes that she turned away from the rest of the team, so they could spill.

Tony walked over to her desk as the others watched, knowing that Ziva was getting emotional again. Tony whispered something that they couldn't hear to her and soon they were both laughing. When Ziva turned back to where others could see her, she was smiling, though her eyes were very red from the tears that had threatened her.

* * *

Friday, November 1, 2013

"Alright," Gibbs said, standing up. It was five now. He was going to hand out the assignment. Normally it would be time to go home, but he had told everyone they were having a late night that night. "McGee, you're going to go help Abby in the lab, to see if you can hack into anything that can help you with that print that came back negative today through Interpol. Jenny, I want you to help Ducky with profiling whoever it is that's after us. Ziva, Tony, Jen, you're with me."

Everyone got up and moved to where they needed to go.

"Boss?" McGee asked.

"Following my gut, McGee," Gibbs said, which wasn't a total lie. He was following a lead that had walked right to them, right into Ziva's hands actually, which was why the two pregnant people were involved in this heavily, when normally Gibbs would have done anything that he could have to keep these two away from anything that closely resembled field work.

They made it back home quickly and Tony got to work in the kitchen. Ziva did not feel well, she hadn't eaten enough that day. She was also exhausted, because she hadn't slept on her desk that day at all.

She sat down on the couch and closed her eyes. She was not fully asleep when Jen started to whisper with Gibbs, and Ziva made sure she listened closely.

"Dad?" Jen asked. "I think I know what's going on."

"Don't, Jen," Gibbs warned her.

"Don't what? Tell you what I think? How do you know it isn't related to the case?"

"Because of the look in your eyes. Stop speculating and just be patient, kid. I'm sure whatever Ziva is going through is something that she'll talk about when she's ready," Gibbs said, looking carefully at Ziva and realizing that she wasn't fully asleep.

Then, there was a knock on the door and Ziva's eyes snapped open as Tony came into the room, gun drawn. Ziva drew hers as well. Gibbs also had his out with Jen behind his back and her gun in her good hand. Tony went to answer the door. Adam was there.

He let Adam in and Adam instantly noticed that there were four guns pointed directly at his head. He put his hands up in the air and slowly disarmed every weapon that he was carrying as Tony shut the door behind him.

"What a greeting," Adam said as he made his way slowly to the couch, seeing Ziva on crutches and Jen with her arm in a sling. He shook his head. "I knew someone was after your team. They got two former Mossad Officers?"

"Yea," Gibbs said, lowering his weapon.

Tony looked to Ziva, seeing the tears in her eyes as she fought for control.

"Excuse me for a moment," Ziva said quietly as she made her slow way into the kitchen by herself. She leaned her back against the wall just inside the kitchen and allowed her tears to spill. They waited for her as she collected herself and returned, her eyes still watery.

Tony went to her and put an arm around her. He leaned in closely so that only she could hear his whisper.

"We just need to get through this, sweet cheeks. I've got you. No need to worry," Tony whispered as quietly as he could and she let out a soft smile.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Special Agent DiNozzo," Adam said with a bright smile. "It's always good to see you, Ziva."

He winked and she gagged, as though she was really about to vomit. She turned away for a moment and Tony went to stand in front of her. His eyebrows raised at her, asking if she was going to be okay. She nodded to him and sighed. They, turned back around, with Tony's arm around her middle, even though the crutches ruined the closeness that she needed right then. He led her to the couch opposite Adam and sat down on it. Jen sat on her other side and Gibbs stood behind them.

"You have information?" Gibbs asked.

"How do I know you'll believe me?" Adam said.

"It is not your concern," Jen said quietly.

Adam's eyes met Jen for the first time since arriving. He assessed her carefully. The girl was six months pregnant and it was totally obvious. Aside from that she had a cast on her arm and held it in a sling. She still had her vibrant red hair and stern look that she had always carried as a child in Mossad. He smiled at her.

"You finally got the man?" he asked playfully. "I guess, had is a better term. I know he's missing and I'm sorry for this. Isaac is a wonderful man. He's lucky to have you."

Jen nodded in comprehension, without saying another word. They all wanted Adam to get down to the point. Gibbs had gone out and gotten dinner. He brought plates for everyone, handing one to Adam last. Adam looked at it and then decided to eat.

"What do you have?" Ziva asked in a less than pleasant tone.

Adam's eyes met Ziva's. He realized that there were tears in her eyes. She was sitting with her legs crossed and her hands folded over her stomach. His eyes narrowed, but he decided that he should just cooperate, because even a Ziva impaired somehow was a dangerous Ziva.

"Best I can get is you are looking for someone who has escaped prison. His name is Alejandro Rivera. That is an educated guess at best. But I assume you have some evidence to work with," Adam said and started to get up.

Ziva beat him to it. She got up on two feet, which she wasn't supposed to do. She pushed him back on the couch and she stared into his eyes.

"You are not walking away from here," she said. "What do you know of Isaac?"

"He's been taken," Adam said. "That's all I know. I'm sorry."

"Where?"

"Somewhere in Saudi Arabia, but he might not even be there anymore. Saudi Arabia, as far as I know, has nothing to do with this. And trust me I've been looking for connections," Adam said, looking scared as he tried to get up again.

Ziva pushed him back down. "You are NOT going anywhere!" she shouted at him, placing a hand on his throat. "What you did to me was wrong! You are going to jail, Adam!"

He sighed and held up his hands in defeat. Ziva backed off, tears in her eyes.

"Ziva," Adam said quietly. "I am truly sorry for what I've done to you. It was never my intention to hurt you. It was always my intention to help. But, I guess I should have known that even though you were drugged you still managed to hurt my shoulder to the point of it no longer working correctly, which is why I'm on the run from Mossad. I'm no longer useful to them."

"You're under arrest for the rape and drugging of a US Federal Agent," Gibbs said. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you."

Adam just stood up and placed his hands behind his back and Ziva turned into Tony, crying again.

"Tony, Ziva, Jen, stay here. I'll be back with the others soon," Gibbs said.

"No, Dad. You are not going alone," Jen said and she followed him out the door, with a sinking feeling as soon as he had decided that three were staying behind and they had given one the address of where they were.

Ziva continued to cry into Tony's chest. She was still standing on her cast, which was against her rules and hurt her a lot. But, the emotions soaring through her scared her and made her unable to move from the spot.

She jumped and clung tighter at the sound of four shots being fired, reaching into Tony's pocket and pulling out a cell phone and staring Tony in the eyes. What just happened?


	15. Chapter 15

A/N – Here is the next chapter. Sorry about leaving you hanging at the end of the last chapter. Read and you shall have answers.

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters

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**Chapter 15**

Friday, November 1, 2013

_She jumped and clung tighter at the sound of four shots being fired, reaching into Tony's pocket and pulling out a cell phone and staring Tony in the eyes. What just happened?_

Their eyes locked only for a moment, but it was enough. Four shots were heard outside. Ziva had Tony's cell phone and had somehow managed to type a message to the others that were at the office, saying that there were shots fired at the safe-house and to stay at NCIS. It was only a second, really. But, it felt like an eternity as they stared.

Ziva's eyes were wide with fear and Tony's were narrowed. They moved instantly. Ziva pulled out her gun and so did Tony. Tony led her to the door, helping her limp that way, even though she wasn't supposed to use that leg. She cracked it open. He peered through it and held up a hand.

Ziva peaked around the door. Adam was sitting with his back to a tree near the door of the house with Gibbs tending to him and Jen had her back pressed against another tree with her gun drawn. Ziva's eyes met Tony's again, a worried expression crossing her face. She inclined her head toward Jen, telling him that's where she was going and to cover her.

His eyes were concerned as he nodded to her. They had to do this, even though the two pregnant ones were injured. But he trusted that they would have each other's backs.

No more shots were fired as she made her way to the tree. She could see a body on the ground. Tony held a flashlight against his gun as Jen looked one way and Ziva looked the other. Ziva reached out and grabbed Tony's arm, realizing it was Liat on the ground, someone they had encountered before.

She hopped over to her. Liat was facedown on the ground, shot in the back and bleeding everywhere. Jen and Tony were covering her. "Jen call for back up and two ambulances," Tony hissed to her. Jen nodded and got to work on that, taking the cell from her pocket.

Ziva pressed her hands into Liat's back, hearing her moan out in pain. "Who shot you?" Ziva hissed.

"I do not know," she groaned. "My gun was not even drawn. We simply were following Eschel to see what he was up to. We know what he did to you. We have been trying to catch him and bring him here."

"Keep talking, Liat, you need to stay conscious," Ziva said, sounding worried.

Somehow, Ziva had formed a bond with Liat over all the brawling of their last and only meeting. Ziva was concerned for the young woman who now bled all over her. She pressed hard, holding her lower back, hoping that an ambulance would soon arrive to where they were.

"Where is Malachi?" Ziva asked.

"I do not know," Liat said. "He was next to me and then he was not anymore. Whoever shot at us was behind us."

Ziva only nodded, lifting her eyes from the Israeli Mossad Officer and scanning the area carefully. They heard the sirens then. There were police, FBI, NCIS, and two ambulances. The paramedics came to Liat first and that was when Malachi came out.

"I will join you at NCIS. I will give my statement and full cooperation on this," he said, looking hurt that his partner was hurt. "I thought she was dead."

"Not yet," Ziva said, avoiding thinking about the blood on her hands. The simple thought of it made her sick to her stomach. "Tony?" she called out, feeling her stomach churning over and over as she tried to contain herself.

The pain in Ziva's leg was too much. The churning of her stomach was too much. She felt like she was going to faint from it. Tony caught up to her, seeing her looking pale and unsteady. He led her back into the house, where Gibbs was talking to Fornell. Malachi followed them and sat next to Jen who was also sitting with Gibbs and Fornell.

Tony led Ziva into the downstairs bathroom and began to clean off her hands. She leaned over the toilet and was sick. Tony held her hair and rubbed her back. When she was done there were tears in her eyes as Tony looked at her. He didn't say anything just then, but got back to cleaning her hands for her.

When he was finished he took her hands in his and looked her right in the eyes. "Liat will be fine. She's strong. You did great earlier with Adam here, though. I'm proud of you, Ziva," Tony whispered.

"I am okay, Tony," Ziva whispered, desperately trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I do not know what has gotten into me. I am an emotional heck lately."

"The word you're looking for is wreck, Ziva," Tony whispered softly, helping to lift her. "Let's go get your crutches. And what has gotten into you is simple. A baby."

He pressed lips softly to her forehead, closing his eyes with delight at how that sounded. Ziva smiled widely and held him tight. "Yes, that it has," she said, still smiling. "The mood swings are going to be the death of me, though."

"I won't let those nasty moods hurt you," Tony joked and Ziva laughed, finally wiping the tears from her face.

Tony helped her out of the bathroom, noticing that both Fornell and Malachi were staring at them. Tony grabbed her crutches and gave them to her and she smiled again and nearly laughed.

"You okay, Ziva?" Fornell asked. "The walls really aren't soundproof at all, are they?"

"I have been fighting a virus," Ziva stated simply.

"I have not ever known you to get sick, Ziva," Malachi said. "This is something different, yes?"

"Something I'm not used to, Malachi," Ziva said simply with a shrug. "Let's get back to Headquarters and figure out who shot Liat."

"What happened to your foot?" Malachi asked.

"Shattered tibia thanks to a full metal jacket," Ziva said.

"Why would someone wear a jacket made of metal? And how would that harm your leg?" Malachi asked, sounding horribly confused.

"It is an American idiom for Lapuas. Sniper rifle ammunition," Ziva replied simply and Tony smiled at her knowledge, remembering how Ziva was when she was first in America and not understanding the terminology at all.

* * *

Saturday, November 2, 2013

"I feel like I have not slept in three days!" Ziva shouted as Ducky examined her leg with Tony standing next to her.

"It's only been a day my dear," Ducky reminded her.

"That is just too long," Ziva said with a yawn to accentuate her tiredness. "I am not used to this."

"I suppose it is a tough transition from being able to sleep whenever you want and however much you want," Ducky agreed. "But, my dear, Ziva, you have gone much longer time periods without sleep and faired better than you are now. Is there something more going on?"

"I am fine, Ducky," Ziva said. "What about my leg?"

"Appears that nothing was damaged in the confusion last night. Might I suggest that you take Abby's air mattress to the conference room or use her lab for some rest. You look terribly exhausted," Ducky continued. "Do we know who shot Liat?"

"It was Alejandro Rivera," Tony answered. "We have his DNA and fingerprints everywhere. But, it seemed to me that he was aiming at Gibbs and not Liat. This is a mess. It's not just NCIS involved anymore. Now it is Mossad and Mexico as well. This is international and its going to get messy. But, Vance isn't answering his cell and we haven't been able to inform him of what was going on last night."

"Adam is not in prison awaiting trial. Bail was higher than he could afford and he said he deserves nothing less," Ziva said, sounding confident.

"Ziva, my dear?" Ducky asked as she got up with her crutches. "I cannot help but notice some changes in you lately. It is not just about your sleep, dear. I have noticed that you spend an unusual amount of time in the ladies' room and that you are exhausted and emotional. Is this case getting to you, dear?"

"Not exactly, Ducky," Ziva said with a sigh, realizing that the doctor would be the first to notice such changes in someone.

"Are you getting enough sleep at night?"

"Some nights," Ziva admitted sheepishly. "Other nights are difficult. That is probably what you are seeing."

"I don't think so, my dear. But, you two will tell me when the time is right, I'm sure," Ducky said with a smile and a nod, allowing them to have their escape as well as their privacy on the subject.

Yes, Ducky definitely suspected what was going on with Ziva, but he was not entirely sure. He had not seen Ziva getting emotional over nothing, otherwise he would know the answer without requiring a hormone level to give him that answer.

Tony pulled Ziva into the elevator and turned to her, turning it off as soon as the doors were closed.

"The reason I cam down there, is that we've heard from the hospital in regards to Liat. She is fine, but the bullet knicked her spinal column, causing her a great deal of pain and possibly paralysis. Malachi was a mess when he was telling me. He admitted to me that he has fallen in love with her. But he is not happy about a Mexican Drug Lord being involved considering what happened to Jen's life the last time they were involved. He also told me that he heard back. They think that they've spotted Isaac David in Israel recently. They're investigating further now. He asked for Jen to not be informed until it is confirmed or denied of what they saw."

"This is not the first time he's gone MIA," Ziva said. "Let's go," she added, turning the elevator back on.

As soon as they were in the squad room they noticed that Adam was in cuffs and talking to Jen about everything that he needed to confess too. Gibbs was staring at them with wonder in his eyes. He blinked a couple times then spoke to them.

"You two up to the conference room to sleep. McGee and Abby have just gotten up. You do anything on that bed and you're both dead. Understood?"

They both nodded and turned away heading back up toward the conference room. It had been a long night and it was already turning into a very long day. Ziva had not gone out of control so far since arriving back at NCIS but there were definitely some who were watching her carefully.

Jen's eyes were nearly always locked on Ziva. Fornell had stayed at NCIS Headquarters and was watching her carefully as well. Ducky had eyes on her every chance he could get. He was currently going through photos again of Ziva's leg, Jen's shoulder, and no Liat's back. He sighed as he went toward the elevator.

They arrived in the conference room. "Well, I guess we've gotten somewhere today. We know who is after us. We have no idea why, but we know who. We also know that now Mossad is involved, which scares me since that is what I was running from. We've gotten Adam and protected Malachi now that he's in the middle of this. Parsons is going to have a field day," Ziva said.

"We'll have to update Chegwidden and the other two when we wake up," Tony reassured her. "Come on sweet cheeks, let's get you to sleep so you can take care of that bun in your oven."

Ziva smiled and kissed Tony.

"We're going to get this guy. We'll talk to Chegwidden, Mac, and Harm. We'll deal with Parsons," Ziva said. "I just wish we had some more time to process all this before it hit us in the faces."

"Well, we'll deal with it," Tony said softly. "Hey, think, on Monday, you're nine weeks."

"Tony?" Ziva said with a strange look on her face. It was a mixture of nerves and excitement.

"Yea?"

"I will be showing before then, I think," Ziva said. "I am not certain. But, I have already noticed a difference in the last couple days."

Tony walked up to her, his eyes lighting up with excitement. He pressed himself up against Ziva and did notice that her stomach was slightly rounder than it had been only a few days ago and he smiled widely.

"I don't think it will be noticeable in three weeks, Zi," he said quietly. "But, if you want to tell them sooner, then that's what we'll do."

"No, Tony. I don't want to tell them sooner. I only wanted you to know that there are changes happening that are now obvious, aside from my crying on everyone and about everything," Ziva said quietly and laughed at herself. "Let's sleep."

He nodded and led her toward the air mattress. She snuggled immediately into his side and was asleep with her head on his chest almost immediately. She had never been so tired in all her life and now it was really obvious to Tony, because she had never fallen asleep quite so instantly.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N – I apologize many times over for the long wait on this. This past weekend was my daughter's second birthday party, though she doesn't turn two until the 24th. Then, she got sick and I have had a terrible time finding any tie at all to myself or with others. Thank you for the reviews and continuing to read this story. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or the characters

* * *

**Chapter 16**

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Ziva groaned as consciousness found her again. Her leg hurt more than it should. She knew she shouldn't have been walking on it Friday night, but she had already done it and there was not taking it back now. She stretched a little, realizing that she was probably going to wake her husband if he wasn't already awake. She groaned again.

"Zi?" he asked.

"I am fine, Tony. Just sore," Ziva said quietly. "How long have you been awake?"

"About four hours," Tony admitted with a small grin as Ziva opened her eyes to see the grin on her husbands face. "You feel rested?"

Ziva nodded slightly and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Gibbs orders were to make sure you were rested when you woke," Tony said quietly. "He also updated me, but told me not to disturb you. There's a lot to tell if you're awake enough to hear it all?"

"What do you have to tell?"

"They have a location on Rivera and they think he's injured," Tony said. "That's some almost good news for you. Liat is capable of moving her legs, but is experiencing weakness and pins and needles every now and then, so they are doing more tests. Eschel is fine and gave his full confession to Gibbs about an hour ago and Abby thinks she's narrowed down the locations that Isaac David could be in. She's working hard on that now, while the rest are working on Rivera."

"This could be over soon," Ziva said quietly. "We need to call the lawyers."

"Already took care of it sweet cheeks," Tony mentioned to her. "They say that since there was immediate danger at a safe-house we were staying in there's no harm. I told them Eschel came to us, which isn't entirely a lie, but that's what Gibbs said in his report."

"I am glad to have you as my husband and partner," Ziva whispered into him as she snuggled deeper into his side. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweet cheeks," Tony muttered into her hair, holding her tightly and sensing that she needed the extra comfort at the moment.

"I do not feel very well this morning," Ziva muttered after a moment. "It is not like I am going to get sick immediately. It is just queasy, nauseous a little."

Tony pouted but held her tightly anyway. When Ziva finally decided to get up Tony followed her and they changed back in to yesterday's work clothes and headed out toward the squad room. Ziva immediately went to her desk and brushed her hair and Tony combed through his. McGee was watching the two carefully, thinking that something was different about them as they continued a morning routine as though they were not at their workplace. Ziva let out a yawn and Gibbs shot a glare toward Tony.

"I am rested, Gibbs," Ziva said. "But that is not stopping me from being tired today."

Gibbs chuckled and McGee looked confused. Jen was staring at the two of them. She shook her head and placed her hands on her stomach deep in thought about whatever was going on with Ziva. Whatever it was they were keeping it secret and she knew that Tony and her father were the only two that knew whatever it was. She thought she had it figured out, but wasn't sure, since she had never expected to see Ziva living again and didn't know if that was something that Ziva still wanted in life. She shook her head again, clearing the thoughts from it.

The elevator let out a ding. Abby walked out with a look of determination on her face. She went straight to the big screen television that was on the wall and picked up the clicker. She pulled something up and stood back, glancing back and forth between Jen and Ziva.

"This isn't the best news in the world," Abby said quietly. "I think that heat dot is Isaac, but it seems that he has a fever or something because he is too warm and there doesn't seem to be any other source of heat in the room he's in. This is the only place with a heat source that is unaccounted for. Unfortunately for us, the location that this satellite image comes from is classified and we can't get a read on it based on geographical markers. I have to get Homeland or the Marines involved in this, and I know how we hate working with others."

"Yes, we most certainly do," said a familiar voice as someone new spoke to them.

They all turned to see Abigail Borin from CGIS standing in the squad room before them. Her red hair was down today and a little longer than the last time they had seen her. She looked around at all of them, reading their expressions. She was frowning. She looked first at the far end of the room. She glanced at Jennifer Gibbs, who was sitting there proudly with her hands on her stomach and looking both pleased and worried at the same time. She looked at Jennifer Shepard whose eyes were narrowed as though she should have known about this girl.

Her eyes met McGee's and McGee was deep in thought about Tony and Ziva and whatever was going on with them, which was where his gaze was. Her eyes met Gibbs, who looked confused as to why she was there. Her eyes wandered toward Abby, who was smiling at her. Then, to Tony who was staring at Ziva and lost completely in his thoughts, not seeming to have noticed that there was someone new in the room.

Then, finally, her eyes went to Ziva. Ziva was looking down at her desk. She was sitting there with her hands folded across her stomach, something that the others couldn't see from the angles they were sitting at. Borin noticed that that was where her eyes and seemingly her thoughts were located; at her stomach. She noticed the ring on Ziva's finger and the look of worry laced onto her face when she glanced up at the big screen. She glanced around the room and found Tony's eyes again, where he was still staring at Ziva with a look of adoration and concern on his face. He was also wearing a ring; a matching one at that.

"Looks like I missed a lot," Abigail Borin said, speaking up again as she walked to stand next to the other Abby. "However, I'm not here about that. That is definitely your man you're looking for. These people are some we've been looking for, but haven't been able to find because it's classified. We don't want to get into the kind of trouble that your team has gotten into this past year and haven't hacked yet. However, we thought if you did it, maybe you wouldn't get in anymore trouble, since you're already in deep anyway."

"No," Ziva said instantly, standing up and staring at Abigail. "No. We will not fight your fight for you. We are facing enough right now and we will not put our family at risk by breaking more laws. We will help you in whatever way we can with our legal resources, but we won't break federal laws."

Borin was taken aback by this and nodded her head, even though she was confused by the sudden defensive nature of this woman. Every time she had seen Ziva she had realized a little more that she was a risk taker and one to step on any rule or law that came across her path to knowledge. But now… now she was different. Perhaps it was this marriage to DiNozzo that had changed her, or perhaps it was something more.

"Ziva's right," came Director Vance's voice. "We'll help you, but we will not break laws for you."

"You break them for each other though?" Borin asked.

"No," Jen Gibbs said as she stood up. "My name is Jennifer Gibbs and I did the report on their activity that is supposedly against the law. That is classified information, however I am allowed to tell you that it was in no form breaking any federal laws. Not one thing this team has done has broken the rules. Perhaps they have bent them a little, but never broken them."

Borin nodded and then glanced sideways at Gibbs. "I didn't know you had children, Jethro," she said with a softer look.

"Had two," he said. "Only have one now. Long story. Ending is I only have one left. She's pregnant with my grandson and granddaughter and her fiancée is missing. That's my priority. Not to mention that the others are my kids as well. There's Tony and Ziva who are in trouble for something they didn't do. There's Abby who works hard and puts too much stress on herself. And McGee who is generally very confused by whatever is going on around him, but somehow manages to come up with answers anyway."

"Who's this?" Abigail asked, looking and Jenny.

"I am Jennifer Shepard. I was the director here for a while," she said. "I faked my death for my safety and the safety of my team and have obviously been found out since then. Now they are my family again."

"I see," Borin said. "Glad to meet the newcomers. Glad to see all the old-timers again, as well. I guess we'll be working together now."

"Are you sure you want to work with this team?" came another unwanted voice.

This was Parsons. "I just came to see what happened the other night. I heard on the news that there was a massive shootout where you were all staying and that there is a Mossad Officer in the hospital. I hate to say it, but you are all under investigation now."

"She was shot in the back and facing us. Why don't you talk with Officer Malachi Ben-Gidon about it," Gibbs suggested. "The suspect got away but we're working on finding him. Now, if you could please leave so we can do our jobs without distractions that would be a wonderful thing. Abs, great work, kid. Come up if you get more information and keep working. You're doing great."

"Thanks, Gibbs," Abby said with a smile and returned to the elevator, dragging the other Abby with her.

"The names are getting confusing," Ziva said. "Gibbs and Gibbs. DiNozzo and DiNozzo. Abby and Abby. Jennifer and Jennifer. Perhaps we should give everyone nicknames."

"Yea," Tony said. "We could have boss and smarty-pants, hairy butt and ninja, goth and foreigner, and smarty-pants and former boss."

"DiNozzo, get to work," Gibbs said, sounding as though he should have head-slapped him."

"Yes, boss," Tony said immediately. "On it."

* * *

Monday, November 4, 2013

They all woke early that day. Ziva was standing in the middle of the conference room by herself and trying hard to button her pants. She was struggling to say the least. Tony walked into the room at the same time that Jen Gibbs did. They stared at each other for a moment and heard a sniffle coming from Ziva. Tony walked over and Jen just watched. Tony leaned into her back and whispered in her ear.

"We seem to have company, my ninja," he whispered. "Jen's here and watching closely."

He reached around her and pulled the pants as far away from her growing stomach as much as they would stretch and managed to get them buttoned. She frowned as they came to tightly rest around her stomach. She then looked at the table, where she had thought she had put her shirt, but it wasn't there. Tony was holding it in front of her and she smiled back at him as he walked around her, his eyes glancing down at her stomach as he raked over her half-naked body. The bump was definitely more noticeable now. However, she had tears in her eyes. She smiled at him and wiped the tears away quickly.

"Later," she whispered, reading his expression to mean that he was asking what she was crying about. He nodded, realizing that whatever it was it wasn't to be said in front of a Gibbs that didn't already know their small secret.

The others were already dressed. A lot had gone on at the ending of the second day. But, they all had the day off of work. They had found Isaac David's exact location and they were flying out tomorrow first thing, except for Jen and Ziva who weren't allowed to go. Tony was also staying behind with them while the others handled this. Vance was even flying out, leaving his Deputy Director in charge for the time being and Tony in charge of the others; as long as things went well here.

They had to leave for the trial in a few minutes and both Tony and Ziva were nervous. They didn't know what to expect as they hadn't been on trial of any kind before. At least not a fair trial, Ziva reminded herself as she thought a little into the past, before shaking the thoughts from her head.

She took Tony's hand as he finished buttoning her shirt for her. She looked him straight in the eyes and silently promised that no matter what happened after this, they would be okay. They had consequences to face and they were facing them full on. They left the room without Jen being given the chance to say a thing.

They were all going to the trial, as witnesses if they needed anything. Jen had a small smile to herself, which must have been given clearance to talk about whatever it was that was so classified from the courts and the system. Ziva crutched her way from the conference room to the elevator; out of the elevator and to the car; and they climbed in together, both too nervous to say a word and both lost in their thoughts, hopes, and silent prayers.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N – So, here is a new chapter. We skip through a little time here, but I think we needed to move the story along a little. I think we're almost done with Fall Consequences, but I will definitely do another sequel to this, because the story isn't done yet.

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 17**

Monday, November 4, 2013

Ziva couldn't stop smiling. They had been let off of the charges. The charges against them were dropped. Parsons had no case and he looked pissed off about it. The judge saw that there was no reason to see that their marriage was falsified with so many people witnessing that they seemed real enough together and then there was the international espionage charges where he had no actual evidence to present and with the rape against Ziva it wasn't international espionage while she was in Israel burying her father.

Once they were in the elevator going back to NCIS Ziva turned into Tony's side and smiled into his chest, having waited for far too long to place her head there and enjoy the moment. No one said anything as happy tears streamed down her face. They were, of course, all confused, except for the two who knew what was going on with Ziva, along with A.J. Chegwidden, who had come back to celebrate (though Abby claimed there would be a better celebration tonight when they all were done with work).

They still had to find Rivera and get him into custody so they could all go home, finally, and live their lives. They were also left wondering why Rivera was going after them at all and why the timing worked out as it had. Was it because Parsons had dug something up on Gibbs in the process of trying to take out the team? None of them knew. But, for now they were celebrating the moment that Tony and Ziva were free from Parsons and what he had to throw at them.

They arrived in the building and noticed that Vance was smiling down at them as they sat at their desks.

"Dad?" Jen said suddenly. "I have two doctor's appointments tomorrow. One for the babies and one for my arm."

"I'll bring you. Anyone else headed out toward Bethesda tomorrow?" Gibbs asked.

"We are, boss," Tony said. "We already told you about that."

"That'll be cozy in the car," Gibbs said with a slight frown on his face.

Everyone else looked curious. Why were Tony and Ziva going to Bethesda? Ducky had a knowing look on his face and nodded slightly but went down to Abby's lab with her, thinking it was best that he just duck out of the room before saying something. Obviously those two were not sharing what they knew with them until a certain time and he would let them keep this secret if that was what they were choosing to do, and if that was what was the truth of it all, as well.

* * *

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Ziva stood in the observation room of NCIS looking at the face of Alejandro Ramirez. Liat was on one side of her and Jen was on the other. Abby was behind them and Tony was next to Abby. Tony had one hand on Ziva's back. Kort entered the room. It was all of Ramirez's intended victims. All of them were important members to their agencies.

Malachi walked in talking to McGee and Ducky followed them with Gibbs next to them. He looked at his team. All of them were there and two Mossad Officers that he had not known he could make friends with.

"Tony, Ziva, you've got this one," he said quietly. "I know you two want answers as much as the rest of us and I know that you're cooperation with each other will come in handy there. Perhaps he'll see that there's no way to split this team up."

"Yes, especially when we are introduced as Special Agent DiNozzo and Special Agent DiNozzo," Ziva said sarcastically, rolling her eyes and crutching out with Tony next to her.

Out in the hallway, Tony stopped Ziva. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said. "I do not know why I am so frustrated today. Everything has gone wonderfully this week. We do not have anything from Parsons. We have Alejandro in custody. Our baby is growing perfectly. I do not know why I am frustrated, but I am very frustrated with everything today."

Tony pulled her into a hug and felt her melt into him. "I think we need a week off soon," Tony whispered in her ear. "The good news is, we can go home tomorrow if this sticks."

Ziva nodded into his chest and took her hands off her crutches, holding herself in place using Tony. Then, he led her into the interrogation room.

"Alejandro Ramirez. We meet again," Tony said. "I'm Special Agent DiNozzo and this is my partner Special Agent DiNozzo. Please, have a seat."

"Your sister?" he asked curiously.

"No," Ziva said quietly but firmly. "Sit."

"Ah, so NCIS does let their agents fall in love and get married. I did not think that old rat Gibbs would allow such a strange thing. And to continue being partners. Is that not a conflict of interest?"

"We will be the ones asking questions today, Señor Ramirez," Ziva said quietly as she sat next to Tony. "Tell me, why did you choose to go against NCIS?"

"I think that's fairly obvious," he said with a shrug. "One of your people took out my father and it is my intention to take out all of his loved ones. I started with that red-headed daughter of his, since she was supposed to die the day of that car crash so long ago. Then, I went to Abigail Sciuto. As much as I liked her I could see that Gibbs viewed her as a daughter, meaning that he needed to lose her as well.

"When I was done with that the two of you were on my list. It is really too bad that Tony here moved out of the way of the bullet, because I would have succeeded once if it had not been that way," Ramirez went on. "You are both children to him. That is also around the time that I learned of your operation, so I went after Trent Kort as well, hoping to throw you off for a while.

"Then, I lost track of you until that phone call came into your cellular telephone, Ziva," he continued. "That is when I knew where you would be staying and you would bring someone you did not trust any longer. I hoped to make it look like that Mossad Operative was the traitor. That did not work when I accidently hit a Mossad Officer and the guy you were talking to in the process."

"You have many charges brought against you. Do you confess to the attempted murder of Ziva DiNozzo, Anthony DiNozzo, Jennifer Gibbs, Abigail Sciuto, and Trent Kort?"

"Yes," he said quietly. "I tried to kill all of them. I also tried to kill that Adam Eschel character along with that Isaac David, but that failed as well. You would think with as long as I have been in the drug trafficking business I would have had shooting figured out now. But, then, I was never a sniper."

Ziva and Tony shared a glance. This man was barking mad. And Ziva was sure she had that idiom correct in her mind.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted Gibbs to suffer as much as I am suffering," he said simply.

"You do not think that the loss of Shannon and Kelly Gibbs still haunts him?" Ziva asked. "Because, trust me, it does. Why now?"

"Because I got freed," he said quietly. "But, I can see that I will be headed toward an American high-security prison soon. Thank you."

Tony and Ziva got up and walked out. They had everything they needed from this guy and they knew that he wasn't going to give them more than that. They had evidence tying him to all the crime scenes and a confession from him that also places him at the appropriate locations and no alibi for the times when people were born or entered into the life of Gibbs or whatever have you.

Ziva stopped in the hallway outside of the interrogation room. There were tears in her eyes. Tony looked at her curiously. He put a hand on either shoulder and stared at her, waiting for her to say something.

"It doesn't feel like enough," she said quietly. "None of it feels like enough. I feel like I could do more to save Isaac. Like I could have done more to prevent this."

The tears were streaming down her face now. Tony had never seen her quite like this coming out of an interrogation. He had never seen her looking so broken over getting the guy that they were supposed to get. Little did either of them know that the entire team was watching this moment as they had already filed out of the observation room.

"You have done everything you can so far, Ziva," Tony told her. "Trust me. I've seen you. I know he's your brother and we are all working on finding him. Hell, we even have Agent Borin in on this. I suppose we could call in FBI and CIA if you want. I'm sure we can do that. What do you want Ziva?"

She shrugged and leaned against Tony, allowing her tears to fall. Tony wrapped his arms around her and that was when he noticed the rest of the team standing there curiously, wondering what had Ziva in tears and knowing that it was more than just feeling like she was failing her brother.

Tony shook his head at them, telling them to leave this moment alone, that she was feeling vulnerable and didn't want to be seen like that. Gibbs was the one who got the message and they all left the hallway, leaving Tony and Ziva alone together where they were.

* * *

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

"Mossad's got him!" Liat said, coming back into the squad room from MTAC. "I have just heard from the Deputy Director, who is acting as Director at the moment, until we select a new one. They have Isaac David. Malachi just flew out to meet him at the hospital there. When he is checked and released he will be coming home!"

Jen smiled widely and so did Ziva.

"Now you can all go and enjoy your Thanksgiving!" she said.

"Why don't you join us, Liat?" Gibbs asked. "With Malachi gone, I'm sure the hotel room will be very lonely. Besides, there's nothing to do in DC on Thanksgiving and you'll be bored."

"Thank you," Liat said, blushing at the offer. "I think I will."

"Consider it a thank you for your help," Gibbs said. "I can't believe he'll be home in a few days."

"Me either, Dad," Jen said with a smile on her face.

Jenny was staring at Agent Borin as though something was wrong. There had been tension between her and Borin since the moment that they started working together.

Ziva elbowed Tony lightly and he turned. "What do you think? Love triangle?"

"That's what I was thinking, but who knows," Tony said with a shrug. "You know how much boss likes to talk about his love-life. But, he and Borin never had anything going, did they?"

"Not that I know of," Ziva said with a shrug. "I think Borin is probably more suited to him, as in style. But, I also happen to know that opposites work wonderfully together."

Tony smiled widely and so did Ziva. They were going to be late to dinner that evening, since they were doing dinner tonight at Ducky's house and early dinner tomorrow at Gibbs' house. It was a holiday and they were choosing to indulge with every member of the family involved.

Friday they would be at McGee's apartment and Saturday they would be going over to Tony and Ziva's new house. Something that Tony and Ziva were nervous about since they had already started buying baby items and setting up the baby's room. But, it was close enough now to the end of the first trimester that they didn't care if the others found out. They were actually considering sharing it on Saturday that they were having a baby, since Ziva was definitely showing now through her small frame. She was wearing baggier clothes to work and around with the others.

She had spent the last weekend buying maternity clothes, but didn't need them quite yet. She was not ready to wear them mentally and Tony had only bought her the best and the things that suited her style, of course. They were excited about telling the others and nervous at the same time.

They were so lost in their thoughts and non-verbal conversation that they didn't realize that everyone was staring at them now.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted and both of them looked up at him. "What time should we arrive at your house?"

"Five," Ziva said instantly with a smile on her face.

The decision was already set in both of their minds. They were going to share this weekend what was going on with them. Gibbs could see the change in attitude.

"I'm assuming we should wear something nice?" he asked.

Tony nodded and smiled. "Absolutely," he said quietly. "I would expect nothing less than a love-filled dinner from Ziva."

"And you, too, Tony," Ziva said.

"What are you making on Saturday?"

"I have not decided whether to go with something Israeli or something Italian. I was thinking something of each," Ziva said softly and smiled at Tony again who returned the smile.

"Gibbs, you allow this kind of behavior in your office? Before you used to jump when they looked at each other, now look at you!"

Gibbs chuckled. "Everyone go home. We've got dinners to make and things," Gibbs said with a smile. And they all filed out of the office and went off for their respective homes.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N – Here's the next chapter. There will be one more short chapter to this story. I am then taking a small hiatus from this series to work on some of my other stories that are going right now, since there are a few of them. But, keep your eyes out for the next story in this series. I haven't thought of a title yet, but I will try to think of one before I post the final chapter of this story.

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters

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Saturday, November 23, 2013

Tony and Ziva had worked hard already that day and throughout their whole holiday weekend. Things were going smoothly so far. Wednesday night dinner had gone wonderfully and they had managed to avoid any odd-looks or questions about not drinking any wine, something that they had been a little afraid of. Liat had joined them at Ducky's house and Gibbs house, but had flown out on Friday to go home again with Malachi.

Dinner on Thursday was oddly alcohol-free. At Gibbs' house there was hardly such a thing as alcohol-free, but he had chosen to do that saying that his daughter was living there and he needed to keep the amount of alcohol down with a pregnant person living in the house. However, he had kept Tony and Ziva in-mind when making this decision and they both appreciated it, because they knew that he had kept them in mind, and Jen seemed to realize that something was up with that as well.

Dinner at McGee's apartment was wonderful as well, though he and Abby seemed a little strained at that time. Something was off about them and no one was sure what. They were struggling at the moment and none of them could focus on them right then, because they all had something else going on in their minds.

Tony had cleaned out the living room early that morning. He had put away as many of the baby items as he could. They were far from done, but they were definitely making progress on what they had. While Tony had done this, Ziva had cleaned the dining room and the kitchen, preparing for their guests.

They were currently taking a break. Everything was set-up and ready to go. Ziva needed to start dinner in a couple of hours, but she was already exhausted. They were sitting on the couch and resting.

"Why don't you go take a nap?" Tony asked her. "I can do the prep and have you up in two and a half hours, if that's okay?"

Ziva nodded sleepily, but she didn't want to go to bed without Tony. She gave him a look. He smiled a little in understanding and stood up with her.

He led her to the bedroom and laid down with her in his arms. He turned and set an alarm on his phone. He held Ziva as she drifted off into sleep and he closed his eyes, holding his ninja, wife, mother of his child. He smiled into her and allowed her the time to rest.

Tony's alarm went off and Ziva stirred. Tony had fallen asleep too, which he hadn't planned on doing, though he knew it was a possibility these days. He comforted her and whispered in her ear.

"Rest for a little while. I'll get you up when it's your turn in the kitchen," he whispered.

She nodded to him, still mostly sleeping. He carefully left the bed, not disturbing her on his way out of the bed. He got all the prep-work done for dinner and tiptoed carefully back to the bedroom. He sat on the bed and put his arm on Ziva's shoulder.

"Zi! Babe, time to get up," he whispered gently.

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at him. "Did you just call me babe?" she asked, sleepily, rubbing her eyes a little.

He smiled. "I did," he said quietly.

She giggled. It was a glorious sound to him. He loved to hear her laughs, giggles, and anything happy. He loved seeing her smile. He loved her so much that it almost hurt to love her.

"I love you, Tony," she said as she sat up and wrapped her arms around him, pressing a kiss to his lips and losing herself in him for a moment.

When they pulled apart they were both smiling. She chuckled. "We do not have time to get lost in each other, do we?" she asked. "Did you think to grab some wine for the others?"

Tony's face fell and he shook his head. "No. Didn't think of it. They'll have to make-due without," he said quietly.

"They will be fine," Ziva said. "Besides, they will know by the end of the night why there is no wine anyway."

He smiled at her. On Thursday, after dinner at Gibbs they had talked about it. Tony was leaving the decision up to her on exactly when to tell the team that they were expecting. They had gotten some curious questions that night, but not as many as the following night when they didn't drink at McGee's place. It was unlike them to pass-up the opportunity to drink and they knew that they had to answer the others soon. It was a good thing that they were close to the end of the first trimester and were ready to tell the others.

They left the bedroom and Ziva began cooking. When dinner was almost done the others started to arrive. Gibbs was first with Jen and Jenny. They made themselves comfortable as Ziva finished up cooking and entered the living area.

Gibbs eyes were trained on Ziva's middle. She was wearing a form-fitting dress that showed off the small bump in her middle and he up at her, knowing that they were going to share if Ziva was showing this off. She was so small that she was already showing and it made Gibbs smile to see his other girl showing with another grandchild that he was expecting.

"Ziva, guess what?" Jen said.

"What?" she asked, turning to the girl she had grown up with.

"Isaac is going to be here tonight!" she nearly squealed in joy. "Liat sent me a message sometime yesterday that he was coming home. Email only. Have you checked your email? I believe she sent one to you, also."

Ziva smiled. "That is great news! I'm glad he will be home," Ziva said happily, tears forming in her eyes.

Everything was working out. Everything was going to be perfect tonight.

"He'll be here in a little while!" Jen said. "He just sent me a message saying he was on his way."

The door opened, revealing Abby and McGee, both of them looked serious this evening. Tony got up and answered the door, not making Ziva get up and down more than she needed to yet. They were going to wait to share this until Isaac was there, too, as well as Ducky, Palmer and Breena.

Abby and McGee came in and sat down. Abby noticed that Jenny's eyes were glued to something. Ziva noticed it too. There was a small car-seat in the hallway that led toward the bedrooms. Ziva blushed a little and looked at Tony, who was sitting next to her again.

"I will be right back," she said.

She stood up and took the car seat with her to the baby's bedroom and placed it just inside the door. She smiled to herself as she made her way back toward the living room. None of their guests had been over to their new house yet and this was the first time they were seeing it. When Ziva arrived back in the living room, everyone was there.

Isaac was standing in the doorway, after just having arrived. Jen was next to him and holding him. Ziva's eyes lit up and she walked over to him. He wrapped his arms around his sister and gave her a squeeze. Then, he looked up and down her. She shook her head at him, hoping he would not mention it yet. His eyes lit up and he smiled at her.

"Of course," he said quietly as he continued to smile. He let out a chuckle. "It's great to see you Ziva. I'm glad to be home."

"I am glad you are home, too," she said just as quietly, then she lowered her voice. "Not a word yet. They will know by the end of the night."

He smiled knowingly at her and they made their way into the dining room. Tony brought dinner in and served everyone. Tony and Ziva then offered drinks.

"No wine?" Abby asked after they went through the list. "No wine, beer, nothing?"

Ziva smiled at Tony before turning back toward Abby. She shook her head. "No. No wine or beer this year."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Abby said with her eyes wide with shock. "This is all just so crazy! You two haven't touched alcohol in, well, I don't know how long!"

Tony chuckled and sat down finally. He took Ziva's hand over the top of the table and looked into her eyes. She nodded to him. They would do it together and they both knew that.

"Why?" Abby finally demanded, making them break their glance.

"Oh, there's a good reason, Abby," Ziva said quietly, smiling to herself and glancing over at Gibbs, who gave a nod of approval.

"Ziva's pregnant," Tony said, unable to contain the wide smile that was spread across his face. He couldn't contain the pure joy that was coursing through him right then.

"You're joking!" Abby said, standing up in shock.

"Wow!" McGee said.

"I could see it," Ducky whispered quietly.

"I knew it!" Jen said quietly. "I knew it!"

"Never thought I would see the day," Jenny responded.

"You have got to be joking!" Abby said, reiterating her point. "There's just no way!"

Ziva stood up and smiled, placing her hands on her stomach, emphasizing the small bump that was there. Tony stood up next to her and placed his hand there as well, smiling at her and pressing a kiss to her temple.

"We're not joking, Abby," Ziva said quietly. "Three months now."

She turned to Tony and got lost in his eyes. "Congratulations, kids," Gibbs said.

"Never thought I would live to see the day!" Jenny said honestly. "Ziva, you were always a warrior and I knew you had secret wants. But even before, when I was at NCIS as the Director and you two were avoiding each other like the plague. I knew there was something special between you, though I was choosing to ignore it then, as your Director. Wow! Just wow! I can't believe everything that's happened in my absence from NCIS. You're American. You're married. You're going to be a mother. Your mother would be proud of you!"

Ziva's eyes turned to Jenny and she smiled widely, though there were tears pooling in her eyes. Jenny had not known her mother, but she had heard stories.

"Oh, Ima definitely would have been proud of Ziva!" Jen said quietly, referring to the woman who had raised her. "More than proud. She would have said that Ziva was a great woman! Because, Ziva's done everything!"

They all smiled at this and a tear spilled from Ziva's eyes as she continued to smile at Jen and Jenny. She turned to Tony and he pulled her into a kiss. They were really doing this. They were really having a baby together and living together. They really were having the life together they never thought they could have.

There were cheers and claps coming from all-around the table. The others hadn't seen this passionate side to Tony and Ziva often and they were a little taken aback as they seemed to get lost in a kiss. Gibbs chuckled and McGee cleared his throat.

Tony and Ziva pulled apart. "Congratulations," everyone said at once.

Everyone sat back down to enjoy dinner. When it was over they sat talking for about an hour, then everyone started to leave. Jen stayed behind with Isaac and Tony and Ziva were sitting on the couch, holding onto each other happily.

"I honestly thought this whole thing was because of Parsons investigation when I first heard about it," Isaac said quietly. "I can see that the thought was wrong. Congratulations, Ziva. I knew when I hugged you though."

"Sorry, Tony," Ziva said blushing a little. "I could not miss hugging my brother when he was home. I did not mean to tell him ahead of the others."

"I know," Tony said kindly. "I also know you've been avoiding hugs at all costs, which is another reason Abby was a little upset with you. She's been trying to hug you for how long?"

"Speaking of Abby… what are her troubles with McGee?" Ziva asked.

"I don't know. But, perhaps they need some counseling," Tony suggested.

"We are not the people to do that Tony," Ziva said laughing. "It took us nine years to fully realize that we belonged together. For nine years we avoided it. So, I would say that we are the worse people to give advice to another on these things!"

Tony laughed and held Ziva tighter.

"Well, we're going to leave you two," Jen said. "You look like you have some things you want to do and I know there is some catching up to do on our end."

Tony and Ziva just smiled at her and laughed lightly at the comment that was made. They were all going to be okay.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N – So this is the end of Fall Consequences. There will be another story coming in this series about these characters and their journey. The next one will have to include some McAbby, since I haven't written too much of that. Enjoy.

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Epilogue

It had been a month since sharing with their family that they were pregnant and now they were sitting nervously in the doctor's office as Ziva got her ultrasound at sixteen weeks. They were close to the end, where they found out the baby's gender. They were nervous, to say the least. They could hardly contain themselves and they were getting impatient.

"So you're sure you want to know the gender?" the technician asked.

"Yes!" they both nearly shouted at the poor lady.

This poor girl didn't know what she had gotten herself into. She had one former Baltimore Cop turned NCIS Agent and one former Mossad Assassin turned NCIS Agent to deal with. She looked taken aback at their over-excited and over threatening reactions and moved the scope on Ziva's stomach. She looked at it for a moment and smiled.

"You're having a girl!" she announced.

Tony and Ziva, who both secretly wanted a little girl, pulled each other into a kiss and held each other tightly. They couldn't wait to share with their family that they were having a daughter.

They looked at each other and at the same time they whispered her name. "Derona Isabella DiNozzo." They kissed one more time. Yes, they were very happy to have their little miracle, their gift, as her name was to mean.

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A/N – So there you have it! That is the end of this story. Look for the next, hopefully soon! I am trying to finish up some of my other stories before starting another! So, yes, hopefully we will see it soon!


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